Fire Emblem: Technically About Fates
by longherin
Summary: Content sequel to the Bajillion Insert. It's technically about Fates because that's kind of the overarching plot, but it's more focused on the exploits of international relations rather than the wars between a mere two nations. Also contains plot material (of a sort) from: FE 6, 7, 9, 10.
1. Part -1: General World Information

As this story occurs in a world with fundamental changes from canon, this prologue exists to detail those changes.

[Timeline - Continents]

Fire Emblem Awakening (elapsed time from prologue to "present": approximately 4 years). Awakening will be considered the 'current' timeline.

Events of: FE Akanea (Shadow Dragon, Mystery of the Emblem, Shadows of Valentia): 3000 years ago.

Events of: FE Jugdral (Genealogy of the Holy War, Thraki 776): Occurred roughly 1000 years in the past.

Events of: FE Elibe (Sword of Seals, Blazing Sword): Blazing Sword's event on pause 2 years ago.

Events of: FE Magvel (Sacred Stones): Occurred roughly 2000 years in the past.

Events of: FE Tellius (Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn): Will occur in the near future.

Events of: FE ? (Fates): Will occur in the near future (technically the focus of this story).

…

[National Conditions]

{The Phoenix Empire}

Leaders: Ash (Emperor), Tiki (Empress), Robin (Empress)

Established: Immediately following the end of the Awakening War (versus Grima)

The focus of the story, kinda, sorta. I am Ash, and Ash art I…or something. The Phoenix Empire is technologically superior compared to the rest of the Fire Emblem universe, and makes ample use of magic, technology, and a generally…different, outlook on the world than the rest of their peers. Within the empire's employment includes the Future cast children and Outrealmers (people from outside the Fire Emblem universe) who help contribute to the budding empire's strength.

It's on the western end of Akanea, in the form of a two-town trading state of sorts. The capital is based in Magvel, though at the point of this prologue said capital hasn't even been built yet.

...

{Halidom of Ylisse}

Leaders: Emmeryn (Eminence), Chrom (Top General), Lissa (Top Diplomat)

Following the Awakening war, Ylisse becomes an economically powerful player in the Akanea world stage. It is the most stable nation of the ones within the Akanea/Valentia continent pairs, and acts as the figurehead of international relations…not that there is one to worry about, given that every nation is allied with each other at the moment.

…

{Regna Ferox}

Leaders: Flavia (Great Khan), Basilio (Khan)

Ferox's big and strong, but its size and the damage it took during the Awakening war make it internally unstable. Apart from Plegia, Ferox's the nation that was most heavily wounded by the damage of the war. Ylisse contributes military aid to the nation in the form of horseman to help control the situation.

…

{Theocracy of Plegia}

Leaders: Hawk (King)

Hawk is Male!Robin. Just go with it. Plegia suffered through a civil war during the middle of Awakening and Hawk got the situation under control, but since the immediate threat of the Grimleal is gone the nation is starting to fragment along preexisting difficulties again. Ylisse and the Phoenix Empire provide air support to help Plegia whenever it's in need of some eyes in the sky.

…

{Island Nations}

The islands in the middle of Valentia and Akanea. They act as a neutral territory for the nations in regards to diplomacy. They are a footnote as far as our history is concerned.

…

{Nation-State of Rosanne, Nation-State of Chon'Sin}

Lead by Virion and Say'ri respectively. The two nations are on the tumultuous continent of Previously-Valm. Not major players from an international standpoint, but still good friends of our major parties.

…

{Ex-Empire of Valm}

Currently a province under the Phoenix Empire but otherwise still led by Walhart (bit of a long story), Valm has abandoned all of its territorial conquests besides its cores and…it's not in a good state, to be honest. The existence of the Phoenix Empire is kind of why Valm is even still around in the first place, and they act as the Phoenix's port of call on Valentia, as well as a military foothold to deploy assistance to Chon'Sin as needed.

…

{Nations of Valentia}

After Valm disintegrated, the territories that used to be parts of Valm split into their own nations. Since their problems were never really resolved, they're basically in a state of constant war.

 _From this point onwards, the information being provided is not privy to Ash, and thus the first person narrator._

 _I am, by the way, the little voice in Ash's head (the internal dialogue during his internal dialogues). I provide information that he would otherwise not notice (or else notice but fail to take into account) during the moments where we're walking around in his head._

 _ **And I'm a walking spoiler.**_

 _That he is. Pay him no mind._

I do think I may be insane. Anyways!

…

[Other Continents]

{Elibe}

Elibe is currently in a period of peace, but Bern is building up militarily. The Lycian League and Etruria are wary of the budding problem and are building up on their own.

In particular, the Lycian League (lead by Ostia) is in a process of militarizing, per their mutual defense pact. The Lycian League, as the name suggests, is an alliance of nations sworn to protect each other, but that protection is certainly not bound by blood.

Also: The heads of Ostia, Pharae, and Caelin (Hector, Eliwood, Lyn) are still worried about their resident evil archnemesis Nergal, because that particular problem was postponed by the virtue of Nino being forcibly removed from their party via a massive dose of magic.

Basically, Nino's Homecoming happens within the chapter after this one. No points for guessing precisely when it happens.

…

{Jugdral}

Jugdral has more or less devolved into full-on tribal warfare. Rampant use of magical power and very little insistence on local infrastructure development (because people keep setting it on fire) means that life in Jugdral is pretty rough. They do, however, have a pretty sturdy shipbuilding industry, and have ships that are strong and fire-resistant.

…

{Tellius}

There exists bad blood between the Kingdoms of Crimea and Daein. Though not entirely at war, the two nations are eyeballing each other with occasional skirmishes on the border here and there.

…

{Fates}

For the purposes of this story, the two major players in Fates (Nohr, Hoshido) are considered to be in a state of "frosty politeness" to begin with. They're rivals, but not so spiteful of each other that they'd go to war at the drop of a hat.

.

.

.

…Oh, before I forget. Fates is the focus of this story, technically, but since we're working at an international stage they're not going to be the only one.

 _So how long do you think it'll take before everything comes apart narratively?_

It hasn't already?

{ === + === }

Author Notes: That should do it for the initial framing of the political situation at hand. As this is spiritually a sequel (in the sense that I'm telling the story from a pre-existing character with a lot of backstory) it will help if you guys chip in on what I need to expand upon, what need to be clarified, and so on.


	2. Part 0: Where are We Going?

{ === + === }

[3rd Person Camera]

Within the Halidom of Ylisse lies the territory of Themis. Governed by Lady Maribelle and her consort, Ricken, the territory acts as the major food provider and one of the pillars of stability in regards to Ylisse's economic independence.

…And all of that information has nothing to do with why a team of six people are currently heading south on horseback.

"So…why is Lady Maribelle making a sudden journey south?" Chrom asks.

"I'm going to Southtown to learn from their legal system." Maribelle says. "As much as I trust my citizenry, the increased load on the Themis courthouse is making fair judgment increasingly more difficult to decide."

"Plus she wants a vacation." Ricken laughs.

"That too." Maribelle sighs. "Liiisse~~" She throws her arms out in an invitation for a hug.

"Awww~" Lissa brings her horse alongside Maribelle's to give her a pat on the head. "You're doing good work, Maribelle, don't let it get you down."

"Why are there so many complaints?" Maribelle complains. "How on earth can there be so many complaints? And why is all of it about land and fences and sheep?"

Lissa gives her best friend another pat on the head. "There there~~"

"Is going there really going to change things that much?" Chrom asks.

"I believe so." Maribelle says. "If there's anyone who can create a state ruled by law, it would be him. I have a purse of 50,000 gold if worst comes to worst." She sighs. "Though I don't except him to be swayed by that."

Ricken chuckles. "I get the feeling he makes that much gold in the time it takes for us to have this conversation."

"He spends that much gold in that time, too." Lissa laughs. "As expected of the leader of that coalition."

The team of six (Chrom, Lissa, Maribelle, Ricken, plus two nameless guards) ride towards the southern tip of Ylisse through the main thoroughfares of the country, passing by many wagons and travelers on their way. The team of six gets progressively more muted and reticent after every friendly returned greeting.

"We got lucky." Ricken mutters after a fashion. "We got really lucky."

"Yeah." Maribelle waves to a cart carrying a family as they pass by. "How's Plegia? I'm seeing more refugees from the border towns show up at our doorstep."

"Yeah." Chrom nods. "The country has some deep power struggles that have yet to resolve. Cordelia's leading the 1st and 2nd Air Wings, and Morgan's detached a few AWACS to help them."

"Still, huh?" Maribelle sighs. "Is there a more concrete solution beyond just devoting a token force to help?"

Lissa shakes her head. "The court won't approve of sending a bigger force, because it looks like an invasion if we do. They don't want to be the ones that look like they're starting a fight."

"Hawk's running ragged keeping his country together." Chrom grouses. "It'd be nice if we could do something for him more substantial than just basic assistance."

"Kite's visiting Ylisstol, no?" Ricken asks. "Maybe we can use that as a reason?"

"As an emissary." Lissa reminds him. "The court will jump at the chance of accusing us of showing unnecessarily political bias and make things way harder than it needs to be."

"The use of the Grima crisis as a reason for strengthening Ylisse's ability to stand on its own, huh?" Maribelle cracks her knuckles in an unladylike fashion. "I wish I could just beat them up and throw them down the back alleys."

The talk of internal Ylissean politics go on for some more time, before Chrom, feeling something strange in the air, hold up a hand. "Wait." He warns.

The talk immediately ceases as the guards move up to flank Chrom.

"What's out there?" Ricken asks, unhooking a tome with one hand while pulling out a revolver-like weapon with his other. He closes his eyes to focus briefly. "A magic signature?" He scowls. "One that I don't recognize…moreover, this deep inside Ylisse?"

"It's no Risen, I'll say that much." Maribelle says. Both she and Lissa pull out tomes as well. "Guards, keep your eyes to the left and right, and yell if you see anything."

"Yes, ma'am!" The guards acknowledge and get onto their jobs of being rather useless next to the veterans of the entire Awakening Timeline.

"Are you going to be alright, brother?" Lissa asks Chrom. "The Falchion's back in the royal treasury, after all."

The Falchion, as a status symbol of Ylisse, was returned to its position within the Halidom's throne room, where it sits behind Emmeryn's chair along with the Fire Emblem. She has, on more than one occasion, pulled it in order to make a point.

"I'll manage." Chrom unsheathes one of his two swords.

The party waits for a bit, but sees nothing.

"Ooookay…" Ricken frowns. "The reading's getting closer, but I definitely don't see anything."

Chrom doesn't like that idea too much. "So they're invisible?"

"Or something similar." Ricken snaps his fingers, blowing up a gale of debris from the road.

The debris whips and collects over a trio of human-like figures on the road. Chrom, Lissa, and Maribelle immediately react and strike, sending a Silver Sword and two Thorons into their targets with pinpoint accuracy.

"Blips are gone." Ricken reports as the sword clatters to the ground. "So I guess they don't leave a corpse."

Lissa huffs. "That sucks. I wanted to bring one of them back with me."

"…Why?" Maribelle stares at her best friend of many years.

"Because Lucina could analyze it." Lissa says. "If this is a new threat—and an invisible one—then we'd better know all we can about it."

"Yeah." Chrom frowns. "More?" He feels another tug at the corner of his psyche.

"Two more signatures, but they're people." Ricken says with his eyes closed. "…children." His eyes snap open. "Correction. Four more after them. Hostiles!"

"Shit." Chrom spurs his horse. "Move!" He charges onwards with the other five in tow.

"Beyond the trees!" Ricken alerts Chrom. "Watch your pace, the kids are in front!"

…

A small boy had a small wooden sword in his hands while dragging the heavily crying girl by the arm. Both of them were panting, running at full pelt away from a series of ever closing, invisible footsteps stirring the leaves behind them.

The boy hears heavy steps in front of him, and falters for half a step. This half step causes him to trip on the uneven road.

Chrom blazes right by on his horse without even noticing. He feels rather than sees the four targets somewhere before him, and he draws his second sword.

It was, to put it simply, a bland steel rod…a steel rod that's easily the length of a spear, and would easily be mistaken for a long club were it not for the existence of a cross hilt. He focuses slightly, drawing upon his magical power and placing it within the rod.

The rod glows and flares with energy. With a whir, a blade of light coalesces around the rod and forms into a thin, flat blade. As an added bonus, a small, clear-blue visor forms over Chrom's eyes, allowing him, a novice in terms of utilizing magic, to clearly see the outlines of magical concentrations.

Given that Chrom has an entire game's worth of experience under his belt, the four ex-invisible enemies quickly becomes ex-alive.

Minor side effect: Chrom never really stopped charging into his attack, so although he splatted the four enemies on the dirt road in record time, he had to double back at a trot to make sure that the two saved kids are ok. By the time he returned to normal conversation range, the other members of the party had caught up.

"Are you two alright?" Chrom asks the two small children. _They look like Robin._ He notes of their snow-white hair.

"Y-yes, um…" The small boy says. "Thank, uh…thank you for your…help." He awkwardly bows.

The little girl stops crying long enough to hiccup, rub her eyes, and stare at the newcomers.

"Wow, her eyes are suuper red." Lissa mutters. "Where are you from?" She asks warmly.

"Nohr." The girl says quietly and shrinks into her clothing.

Everybody in attendance heard "Noire" and is very confused, because she is a person.

"This is taking the 'tracts of land' joke to its illogical conclusion." Maribelle sighs. "Do you know your way back? We'll help you." She says sweetly.

"Uh…" The boy starts and hops to his feet. "That's right! Come on, Corrin! We need to go!"

Corrin, the girl, stares and looks around confusedly. "K-Kamui, where are we?!" She says, seemingly confused by the environment.

"At least she stopped crying." Lissa notes. "Can you tell me your names?" She asks. She had heard them talk to each other and knew the boy was Kamui (the girl, Corrin) but figured this was a good way to get them to warm up to her.

Kamui, however, completely ignores her. "Come on, Corrin! If we don't go now the gate might close!" He drags the girl up by the arm, and bolts into the trees with the girl scrambling to keep up.

"Do not chase." Chrom orders before the guards could actually give chase.

"What just happened?" Lissa scratches her head. "Is there a gate in those trees?"

Ricken closes his eyes again. "I think I feel the hints of transference magic, but it's evaporating quickly." He says after some time. "So there might have been a temporary cross gate within those trees."

"And a cross gate is different from an outrealm gate?" Maribelle asks.

"In theory." Ricken nods. "A cross gate is supposed to be one that allows travel on our plane of existence, while an outrealm gate is…more." He scratches his head. "It's hard to tell."

"In any event, we'll have to ask him about this." Chrom says. "Keep your wits about you, there might be more."

…

Fortunately, there wasn't more. The group reaches Ylisstol, and then heads south along the main road. By the next day, they reach their destination, a town being slowly built from the ground up, one piece at a time, by little flying boxes.

"Looks like things are coming along." Chrom grins at the half-built town. He notices the foreman (wearing a weird yellow hat, no less) and waves. "Hello there!" He shouts.

The foreman looks up from his blueprint, sees the party coming, and waves back. "General Chrom! What's the occasion?" He asks as Chrom's party rides up to him.

"There's something I'd like to discuss with Morgan." Maribelle says formally. "May I acquire as to his whereabouts?"

"Morgan should be on the Starlight." The foreman jerks a thumb to a ship docked at port. "Apologies for the dust, folks, but this new station's taking a while to build."

"No, no." Ricken brushes away the apology quickly. "This is all extremely fascinating!" His eyes feast on the construction equipment humming along as they build the proper Ylissean branch of the Phoenix Empire. "I'm going to observe them some." He says, wandering over to the little flying boxes but keep a respectful distance.

"Right." Maribelle giggles at her husband's star struck eyes. "Now then, shall we be off?"

The party (minus Ricken) veers away from the construction area towards Southtown, which, for the moment, was the actual receiving area for the Phoenix ships until the proper port could be constructed.

"Wowie." Lissa whistles as they enter the town proper. "Southtown's booming, huh?"

And it was. Southtown, once an Ylissean backwater with a quaint little fishing industry, was now, if only temporarily, the biggest port. As the biggest port, it came with the advantage of being visited by traders from Ylisse eager to do business with the rest of the continents. Granted, it wasn't as large as the Jewel of the Coast on the western coast of Akanea, but for the residents, it was good enough.

The party, fortuitously catching the town on a bit of a slow day, gets lost with a good hour of shopping before actually reaching the ship at dock.

"I really should come here more often." Lissa says, cheerily holding up a melon of some kind. "This is still fresh!"

"Why did you guys go shopping before coming here?" Morgan sighs.

The party meets with Morgan (who was alerted of their coming way ahead of time) on the docks. Morgan, seeing the party laden with their shopping results, leads them to a different meeting room than the one he previously wanted to use.

"Whoa." Maribelle marvels as soon as she steps into the otherwise normal meeting space. "It's quite chill in here." She says.

"The Outrealmers call it 'air conditioning.'" Morgan says, and then points to a clear cabinet in the corner of the room. "Put your stuff in there, so it doesn't rot as we talk."

"So what's this called?" Lissa asks as she does as asked.

"A 'Timer'?" Morgan scratches his head. "This is one piece of tech that the Outrealmers weren't sure on."

"And we're using it?" Maribelle was suddenly worried. "Lissa, remember what Ash used to do?"

Lissa's smile suddenly fades. "Oh yeah." She hurriedly moves away from the 'Timer' and hurriedly looks for the largest piece of furniture to place between it and herself.

"It's not going to explode." Morgan sighs.

"Is that why the outer shell is reinforced steel?" Chrom asks worriedly, unsure of his current position as Lissa's human shield.

"Even if it blows up," A new voice comes from the door. "Worst that'll happen is that it gets a bit hot." He waves. "Yo."

"Ash." Chrom nods. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I needed to oversee the construction." Ash grins. "So, what brings you?"

Ash and Chrom/Lissa sit to talk about the two children, while Morgan breaks off with Maribelle to do an observational tour on Southtown's refurbished court and justice system.

…

"Hmm." Ash muses as Chrom finishes his description of what happened the previous day.

"Have you heard about them?" Chrom asks. "Or the nation they hail from?"

"Can't say I have." Ash replies with a shake of his head. "Also, 'Noire'?"

 _For the record: Corrin pronounced Nohr as 'nor', but our folks are calling it 'no-are'._

"Maribelle beat you to that joke" Lissa huffs.

"Damn." Ash snaps his fingers. "In any case, we haven't run into any kind of governing body or nation-state that calls itself Noire yet, though granted we haven't seen too much."

Chrom's interest is piqued. "What's the continent that you've made contact with?"

"Jugdral." Ash replies. "And by extension Elibe…which is nice, because it means we're now able to actually take Nino home like I promised."

"When's that happening?" Lissa asks. "I want to throw Nino a party before she leaves."

Ash crunches some numbers. "Eh…about three months? The Neverland needs to get its shakedown cruise, for starters…"

The two parties talk for some more time and eventually come to the conclusion that they will have to search for the country of Nohr at some point in the future.

…

[1st Person Camera (Ash's Viewpoint, basically)]

…

Unfortunately the issue with getting Nino home (and the complications that come with Elibe and Nergal and all that other fun stuff) took me more resources than I had previously expected.

Thus…

[3 Years Later]

…yeah. Its three years before we could commit to the search for this 'Noire' thing in earnest.

Turns out it wasn't too hard to find. The country of 'Noire' is attached to the continent of Tellius, and just happens to be on the eastern end of it.

Tellius is the playing field for the events of the Wii Fire Emblems (Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn) though given the current timeline it looks like the events of the story hasn't actually happened. Ber..Be…

Hang on.

…Begnion! Begnion. The Theocracy of Begnion just celebrated little Sanaki's first birthday last year. She's ten by the time Path of Radiance starts, so…yeah, we have some time before that thing fires.

I'm going to get that name wrong forever, so if I just end up calling it like, Berny or whatever, just know that I'm talking about Begnion.

…Actually, if the timetables match (and god knows if they will) it looks like the Radiant series will coincide with the events of Sword of Seals, since Roy's now three (Lilina's two), so…

…well, our existence itself will change the flow of expected history, so I guess I should take that into account.

 _Maybe we should introduce ourselves?_

…in the event that the reader didn't read the -1 chapter? Sure.

I'm Ash. I'm the first person narrator…though judging by the scope of operations, first person camera events will be rather sparse, especially when there's no war going on.

The italic text is my 4th-wall-breaky self, representative of how I talk to myself all the time, and how my senses may pick up on information that I don't actively process. It also provides, when needed, the necessary snark to get me to actually explain things in detail.

 ** _What about me?_**

You're a spoiler, so you get to take the back seat for now.

So…I came to Akanea during the timeline of Fire Emblem Awakening, as an Outrealmer that fell rather literally out of the skies. Some things happened, I somehow bumbled my way through two wars, made oodles upon oodles of money, and am now married to both Robin and Tiki. There's a Male Robin running around, and his name is Hawk, and he's our buddy…kinda, sorta.

For the record, though: Myself, Robin, and Tiki all share the top seat in our company, the Phoenix Empire. As such, legally speaking, Robin is my wife, Tiki is Robin's wife, and I'm Tiki's wife.

 _…What?_

Yeah, that's the response I got from literally everybody when I announced that arrangement. Normally, the two of them would be considered my consorts. The problem with that arrangement is that it implies that the two of them have less power than I do, which is stupid, so we're going with a full rotational marriage to cement the fact that the three of us share the same rank.

We manage different aspects of the empire, too: I'm mainly economic/scientific, Tiki's diplomacy, and Robin's military. Now, it's not like I don't do diplomacy or Robin don't do economy, but these are our specialties.

Lessee…what else? Through…circumstances, all three of us are Manaketes (of one type or another). Unlike Tiki, the two of us can't transform at will and don't get bonuses from a dragonstone. All three of us are functionally immortal, so we'll see how that plays out in like two thousand years or so.

So, the Phoenix Empire.

The Phoenix Empire was established some time between the war against Plegia and the war against Valm, largely because I felt like the middle finger I could make by myself was not very impressive. The company existed to provide funds for my scientific and naval pursuits, and as a result holds…what is probably the most technologically advanced navy on the planet, if the smallest one (not counting minor nations).

Our warships, numbering roughly a dozen, are either reinforced with steel plates or are scratch-made with steel hulls, featuring magically powered turbine engines, refined handling, and damage control to ensure that a sunk ship could hermetically seal and then slowly submarine its way back to port. They have radar, maydar (magic radar), a full communication suite, and a reasonably well-equipped combat information control center.

Our competitors have sailing ships with ballistae.

Suffice to say we have a tendency to run circles around our opponents even before the Phoenix Empire Arsenal got their upgrades.

 _Upgrades?_

So, until very recently (about two years ago) the amount of experienced personnel within the Empire was seriously few. There wasn't really a coherent structure for departments, and I just did what I could to make sure that things got done.

Now, though, the Phoenix Empire has enough sway in its established territories to draw in the other Outrealmers—people like me—who join our nation either out of their own personal interest, or out of a desire to go home.

I have a monopoly on the Outrealm gates (which are not just a means for buying DLC) and can ferry people through as needed. Of course, I need Bubba the gatekeeper to agree, but as long as I'm not making an outrageous request I'm in a good position.

So Outrealmers can go home, provided that they give us their technical expertise for two years. Some Outrealmers fall in love with the country and decide to stay, which, y'know, is all the better.

Because of this rule, and because of the printing press (which we attach a magic keyboard onto and turn it into a computer because Fuck Yeah Magic™) we now have a lot of technical books and documents on biology, mathematics, theories of magic, economics, politics, geology…you name it, we have it. The Jewel of the Coast, my de facto capital for now, has a massive library that houses all of these books. Southtown has a small branch of the library, and the place is constantly packed to the brim with Ylissean scholars looking to learn about the latest and greatest ideas.

We also have very sophisticated (compared to Fantasy Medieval Europe) departments dealing with developments concerning Magic, Engineering, and Physics. They are called the DAE and DEP.

 _Which is…_

…Department of Angry Engineers and Department of Enraged Physicists.

Apparently magic scrambles with some of their understanding for how logic works, and they don't like it much. Like, a month after its establishment the DAE built, as a joke, a perpetual motion engine, and it worked. They called themselves the DAE afterwards because there was no logical reason why a perpetual motion engine was possible.

It's not _really_ a perpetual motion engine, mind you, but one drop of spirit dust can keep that engine running for a prospective five hundred years, so it's damn close.

The DEP, incidentally, got its name because they figured out how to solidify light through magical means. Their explanation hurt my head, and it seemed to hurt their heads, and again they were not expecting to succeed, but they did, so…yeah. DEP.

The first weapon built with this technology was given to Chrom, as a replacement for his beloved Falchion.

The two branches have done more for the empire than I can list. Their greatest achievement, I think, is the particle-transfer build system. The PTBS, or "Pibbles", as the guys on the ground call it, is basically free-form 3D printing. Small flying robots (Fuck Yeah Magic™) are connected to a modified teleportation ring. Construction material is loaded into the ring and is then beamed over to the robots (Fuck Yeah Magic™) which then uses it according to an uploaded blueprint. This means we can build big, strong buildings with basically no overhead and no trash, and it goes up fast.

As an added bonus, the robots can be used to dig underground to lay pipes, using the dirt it digs for material or else teleporting it back to the ring to be used later. So we can lay down piping or underground wires without having to dig up basically everything. It's wonderful.

 _And there is no potential for abuse?_

…there is. There always is. Fortunately the Phoenix Empire is a police state, so I'm not too worried.

…What? Police States are useful.

So, to be a citizen, you have to take a test. There is no idea of being 'born into citizenry' that's…otherwise normal in the world. The three of us took the test (it's not a very hard test) to kind of cement in its legitimacy. After becoming a citizen, you get a card of citizenship, which is also magically ingrained into your genetic data (Fuck Yeah Biology™) which makes you a citizen, grants you some basic forms of magical defense against incoming threats (to the tune of a +4 def/res, basically), and makes it so that we can track you forever. The spell is ingrained into your genes, incidentally, is renewed so long as the person is within the Phoenix's territory, so if you leave the country and don't return for a year then we lose track. If we lose track, then the person loses their citizenship and must retake the test and regain the spell.

The entire process for citizenship, I should note, takes about five minutes maximum.

Visitors to the nation get a visitor's visa and a lesser version of the spell that fades after a week of being out of town. If you don't have one of these, you can't, say, open a business.

…To tell you the truth, though: everybody who comes into the country is automatically tracked by the subspace maydar (Fuck Yeah Magic Physics™), and the spell of citizenship/visitor status just makes it so that we're not suspicious of you.

 _And what of illegal immigrants?_

We haven't had this problem yet, because migration speed is pretty slow in the era of medieval-ness, but as a rule, illegal immigrants are enslaved with a hundred thousand gold debt to the state. Slavery's not an uncommon thing, so I figured we might as well make good use of it. Ylisse, for example, uses slaves for its more dangerous jobs (like mining) so it's basically a necessary evil.

In our case, slavery is the punishment for crimes that would otherwise result in imprisonment, and the severity of the sentence is reflected by the size of the debt they have to pay off. A slave, upon gaining their freedom, also gains a maximum of 5000 gold purse (or else half of the debt they had) to help them get back on their feet. Basically, apart from the fact that the state gets to decide where the slaves work, they're treated as normal citizens: free healthcare, room and board, free education (up to pre-academy levels), and crimes against slaves are treated as crimes against free persons. As a personal opinion, I prefer my system to imprisonment, if only because it ensures that we're not creating a class of people who only become more isolated from the world as their imprisonment gets longer. I mean, yeah, we run the risk of having dangerous people on the street, but…if there exists a person so dangerous you want to keep them away from society at all costs, then the best option would be to just kill them. Like, why run the risk of them breaking free from life in prison just because

…I'm going to stop now, just because this conversation is derailing.

Anyways.

The Phoenix Empire, due to the fact that it's a nation, has a lot of information to cover, and I'll do that in bits and pieces as necessary.

For now though, we need to talk about Tellius, and this 'Noire' place.

So like I said before I veered off into gushing about my amazing, amazing country, 'Noire' is part of the continent of Tellius. I'm going to refer to these places as independent continents for the sake of expediency, so Tellius is explicitly the left half, and 'Noire' is the right half.

There exists a large, extremely hostile desert between the two halves. Preliminary searches through Tellius histories and stories have told us nothing about 'Noire', so it stands to reason that the desert has not been crossed. The sea around the desert is also extremely hostile to sailing, to the point where even our warships run the risk of capsizing if we tried to ply those waters. Fortunately, the danger area only extends out about two hundred miles, so our ships can go around without trouble.

I mean, yeah, there're a few Krakens in the water, but they're pretty nice if you can talk to them, so they're not a worry.

 _Time out._

Oh yeah. You know how old earth maps tend to have sea serpents n'shit drawn into their oceans?

Well in Fire Emblem those things are actually real. The Deep Ocean (the areas between continents) have very choppy water, frequent storms, and literal sea monsters. Those sea monsters do react to magic, and so, VERY fortunately, they can be reasoned with. Most of the time they keep to themselves and make me hate the Ocean, but sometimes a serpent gets curious and comes up to take a look.

'course, "taking a look" sometimes means "The Enterprise gets carried on top of a snake head and can't do anything against a new landmass for a few hours", so…yeah.

Fuck the Ocean, is the point I'm making. Until we have secured entirely safe travel routes, the three of us escort each fleet as it moves, just to make sure things don't go wrong. Should be obvious, but the waters and the snakes and the krakens and the dragons are probably the reason why no continent has really ever made contact with another.

Hell, the reason why Jugdral and Elibe even made contact with each other recently is because the serpent that used to live between the two continents moved away, making the waters calmer than it used to be.

Anyways…now that we've found 'Noire', we can begin infiltration. We're going to use the two Heroic Albino kids as the focal point and see if we can learn about the continent. I can worry about what kind of money I can make from this visit afterwards.

…and I know just who to send.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

And we're off!

Technology Corner:

"Timer": Technically a freezer. Instead of using ice, it generates a pocket dimension (using our knowledge of the outrealm gate) and turns the time dial all the way down. In other words, items within the dimension gets slowed, and thus do not rot. In other words, we are indeed breaking the laws of space time for the sake of a fresher, tastier tomato.


	3. Part 1: Infiltration

_So it has been pointed out to me that there are discrepancies in character roles between the end of Bajillion and this story. For the sake of simplicity, the roles as assigned within this story are canonical._

 _Let's just pretend that they tried the roles at the end of Bajillion for a little while and then it didn't work out, or something._

{ === + === }

[Kingdom of Nohr, Midnight, 3rd Person Camera]

On a particularly dark night, with clouds covering the moon and the stars, a few villagers are groggily stirred awake by a low rumbling. It quickly disappeared, so nobody paid any attention and went back to sleep. Had they been paying attention, and thought to look up at the dark sky, they would have seen a strange, winged box soar overhead.

If they could see the front of the box, they would see panels of glass and two figures sitting inside the damn thing (one big, one small). If they had the words to describe what they saw, they would describe those two figures as 'pilots'.

"I think we just buzzed a village." The box's big co-pilot says. "If this thing made any noise we would've been the talk of the century."

"Update our maps." The small pilot says while trying hard not to squirm out of excitement. "I'd like to not make the same mistake again."

"Aye aye." The co-pilot smooths out the map strapped to his leg and draws down a dot. "Also, Colonel? Could you not squirm around like that? It's very distracting."

"But this is so awesome!" The pilot, Colonel Nah, replies in complete ecstasy. "This is so cool!"

"I realize that," The co-pilot sighs. There was something troubling about the fact that a small girl was squirming around on the pilot's seat like it aroused her. He was, however, a consummate professional, having been a transport pilot in his own Outrealm, and simply focused on his job of keeping his current aircraft moving…as well his secondary job of seeing what instruments needed to be improved once they arrive back at the carrier. And his tertiary job of training the girl because she was about the only one who wanted a job like this.

"I think we're getting close." Nah says after another five minutes of squirmy flight. "Confirm for me."

"Yeah." The co-pilot says after checking his map. "Start decelerating."

Nah decelerates as ordered. The co-pilot, watching the craft's speed, pulls on a lever after they've slowed down enough. The craft shakes as parts of it rotate to point downwards.

The co-pilot grins as he hears what sounds like screams of pure and abject terror from the back of the aircraft. By far the most relaxed member on the craft, he flips his radio and leans back as he speaks into it. "This is Firebrand, we've arrived at the drop point and will begin our controlled descent."

"Is that what that shaking was?" Severa's quivery voice comes from the back of the aircraft. "Could you tell us before you do that next time?"

"That wouldn't be as fun." The co-pilot replies in good cheer.

The Firebrand, the Phoenix Empire's first VTOL (Vertical TakeOff or Landing) Stealth personnel transport, represents a giant box with variable geometric wings (read: they move). Attached to the box are a series of thrusters that can be rotated 120 degrees to face either the back or the ground, for that maximum VTOL efficiency. The extra 30 degrees is so it can slow down to a complete stop while the engines are pointed downwards.

As such, the co-pilot brings the Firebrand to a complete stop a hundred feet in the air. Below the aircraft is a small clearing surrounded by a peculiarly dense forest.

"This place is big enough for the Firebrand." Nah observes. "How convenient."

The co-pilot brings the aircraft down until the proximity sensor beeps in warning, a sign that they were now close to the ground. "Opening the hatch. Lights."

The back hatch opens, revealing a payload of nine people and a sled loaded with an assortment of equipment. As the people closest to the ramp peer out into the darkness, a pair of lights turns on and shows that, yes, they were indeed very close to the ground.

The one responsible for getting everything off the Firebrand happens to be a little Manakete by the name of Nowi. "Ok! Let's get all this down here." She says and cheerfully drags the sled of machinery off the Firebrand's short ramp. The sled, predictably, tips over and spills the million-gold-value machinery over the forest grounds.

"If those things weren't rated to survive artillery strikes, Ash would _kill_ you." Severa laughs, giving Nowi a good-natured rub of her head before hopping down the two foot distance between the Firebrand's deck and the solid ground. "Ok." She turns and extends her hands upwards.

"Here you go." Inigo tosses Severa her belongings before hopping down into the clearing. "That drop was a little higher than it looked." He muses. "Owain."

"Aye." Owain does the same for Inigo then jumps down himself. Rinse and repeat for everyone except Nowi.

Severa puts a hand to her chin, on the radio cloaked to the color of her skin. "Away party to Firebrand, we're all clear now."

"Firebrand copies." Nah replies. "We'll be making the second trip shortly." As the hatch closes with Nowi profusely waving to the party, the aircraft rises above the treetops and turns around to go back to its baseship. A moment later, it disappears from view, and the ground party hears the dampened hum of its engines as it accelerates away.

The ground party waits until they can't hear it anymore before getting to work setting up tents and installing the equipment (and de-mudding a few of them). An hour later, the Firebrand returns to a rather put-together looking camp of camouflaged tents and drop its second payload of supplies and another team of four.

"That's everything." Nah says. "Firebrand to ground team, we'll be back in a week to check on your status. Don't die out here."

"Have fun camping!" Nowi shouts down at the party on the ground.

Severa waves back to Nowi and the Firebrand. "Don't worry about us, Colonel. We can handle ourselves."

…

After finishing up their camp, the twelve people on the ground head into the largest tent. Within the tent lies a large table, where a massive (but quite crude) map of the subcontinent is pinned to its surface.

"Ok." Severa fixes her hair into her favorite twintails pattern as she takes her position as the expedition captain. "Time for some assignments."

"For the time being, we're only operating in this area of the sub-continent, correct?" Inigo asks. "We're not worried about the other half?"

"A different team is handling that other half." Severa says. "They're going to set up tomorrow."

"Good to know." Owain cracks his knuckles. "What am I doing, o great leader?"

Severa gives him a 'really?' look. "We six are dividing up into two teams of three. You two" She points to Inigo and Owain "Are following me for town work."

"Oh good, we don't have to deal with people." The other three breathes a sigh of relief. "We're on recon duty, then?"

Severa nods. "Yeah, you guys get to travel around the countryside and learn about the flora and fauna." She grins. "Don't get eaten, yeah?"

"Should we go with codenames?" Inigo asks. "Just in case if information starts seeping over from Tellius?"

"Or for when we formally establish a base." Owain smiles widely. "I already got mine picked."

"That's not a bad idea." Severa ignores him. "We timed our arrival with the local start of spring, so we'll sneak into town when they're having a festival and mingle around. Good?" The other two nods in agreement. "Alright. Get some rest, we're going to be busy."

"I don't think I'd ever be happier to sleep on dry ground." An NPC mutters. "That flying box thing was terrifying."

…

[Nearby Town]

…

It was the start of the planting season in the kingdom of Nohr, and like many other towns within its territory, this one was also hosting a small festival, to bless the land so that it may be productive. The town is fairly small, sizing at roughly 5000 souls, and thus hasn't quite the resources for something over the top or extremely extravagant.

So it simply hosts a small combat meet instead, with the idea that the competitors are devoting their hard work to the divines and putting on a little show without too much of a financial burden on the town.

This combat meet, incidentally, started over fifty years ago. By now, it's achieved some level of renown, and fighters from across Nohr would come and participate for the prestige…though recently a similar tournament in Windmire, organized with an actual purse for the winner, was rapidly taking over in importance.

Either way, the town was treated to two rare sights this morning.

First was the pretty red-haired mercenary that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and the second was a common occurrence, but still worthy of interest.

Severa, realizing about five minutes into her infiltration that she was attracting an undue amount of attention, decide to duck into an inn and 'borrow' a second floor room so she could keep her eyes on the tournament raging below while keeping out of sight. She was *kind of* ok with the attention, because it meant that Owain and Inigo would be less conspicuous, but at the same time it bothered her.

Below her, the slightly less attention-grabbing Inigo and the surprisingly stealthy Owain were within the tournament circle. Inigo was competing (because he felt like it would be the best way to get the attention of the ladies) and Owain was mingling in the crowd as hidden support…and as a necessary secondary distraction if Inigo got into too much trouble.

…

The tournament begins without a fuss, and Inigo dutifully begins his task of handing everyone who faced him their proverbial asses. As someone who had survived what was basically an entire life of combat, he is, quite possibly, the most skilled swordsman alive on the entire subcontinent…and he knew it, which is why Inigo made sure to eke out convincingly contested victories. Still, with each victory, he couldn't help but notice.

 _Not too shabby._ Inigo muses as he deftly parries the swing of his latest opponent (Cavalier). _But this feels odd._ He blocks the next three attacks with practiced ease. _They're all following variations of the same patterns._

Up above, Severa was coming to a similar conclusion. "These guys seem to all make the same mistakes." She observes through her earpiece radio. "I'd say that they're all either very experienced in fighting against the same style, or else practice against something similar to it. It's probably the one from the other country we haven't met yet." She's the only one who's alone, so she can comment into her radio and not attract undue attention.

 _That wouldn't surprise me._ Inigo backsteps and copies one of Chrom's moves, sending his opponent out of the ring easily. _They're very easy to lure in._ He thinks as he bows to the crowd. "Well, what did you think of that?" He says, both into his radio and at the pretty girl looking at him. The girl giggles and shies away into the arms of her boyfriend.

"Could use a little more work." Owain grins, as if making the point to himself.

Severa hears someone open the door behind her. _So much for having this place to myself._ She sighs in her head.

"Well well well." An uncomfortably soothing voice says from behind her. "I'm quite lucky to share this perch with a pretty lady such as yourself."

 _Oh my god it's another Inigo._ Severa resists from rolling her eyes. "I've heard it all, so you're better off not trying."

"That's a shame." The sly-looking, silver-haired archer says cheerily. "At the very least, allow me the pleasure of knowing your name?"

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" Severa replies with barbs in her voice.

"Of course." The archer makes a flourishing bow, completely ignoring her hostility. "I am Niles, a proud servant of the Kingdom of Nohr."

 _Shady as fuck._ Severa inwardly comments. "I'm Selena." She at least smiles for him out of courtesy before taking into account his defined physical features. _Definitely no amateur._ She summarizes quickly.

"Selena." Niles repeats. "It's hard to believe that a mercenary with your peerage would remain inconspicuous for so long."

 _Shit._ Severa keeps a blank face. "Having a nice hood helps." She replies dismissively and goes back to crowd watching.

"Is that so?" Niles chuckles. Then, keeping a respectful distance, he too settles down to watch the next match. He, like Severa, had taken a good look at her physical state, and was a bit worried. _This is the first time I've been unable to read a person._ He notes. _But from the way she holds herself, she's definitely no mere mercenary._

Severa shoots him a furtive glance. _So he's an agent of some kind?_ She thinks. _That kind of fluid, defensive movement isn't exactly what you'd get out of a lifetime of hunting._ She taps her bottom of her chin, where the radio mouthpiece was situated.

Owain recognizes the pattern as the sign that their position may be compromised, and begins to wade a little deeper into the crowds watching the matches. This action was not missed by Niles, who sneers slightly and adjusts his belt buckle, letting it shine in the light just a little bit. _As expected, she's not alone._ He wonders. _Is she a Hoshidan agent?_

A small girl with a smaller knife sees the shine, and begins wading her way into the crowd as well. This sudden, targeted movement is caught by Severa, who frowns slightly.

Inigo, realizing that something's going on but unable to do anything about it, simply faces his next challenger. "My, you're a well-dressed young man." He says in surprise.

"I'm just here to show my sword arm." The blond young man facing him says in response. "I will give you no quarter, and I expect none in return."

"I admire your enthusiasm." Inigo says politely. "The name's Laslow. Pleased to meet you."

"I am Xander." The young man replies readily. "En garde!" He charges with his sword.

 _For the record: wooden weapons are being used._

"Right off the bat, I see." Inigo readies his sword. The two clash in a flurry of blows.

"He's not bad." Severa observes as Xander and Inigo fight their way around the ring to general approval. "Definitely a cut above the rest."

"I would certainly hope so." Niles agrees, subtly but closely watching Severa's body language. "His opponent has had too easy of a time this day."

Severa made no indication that she cared in any way.

On the ground, Owain knew that he was being tailed through the crowd, and simply deigned to stay put to watch the match. His tail, though he didn't know who, also seemed to be staying put.

 _Maybe they're just being cautious?_ Owain muses. _But then, why are they being cautious?_

"Isn't Xander doing really well today?" A nearby Mercenary says, catching Owain's attention.

"As expected of him." A cavalier, very obviously affiliated with the Nohr military, replies in approval. "But it looks like that guy's still going to get the better of him."

As this exchange occurs, Inigo parries Xander's lunge but only barely deflect the strength of the young man's charge. Xander follows through, stepping in with the belief that he's only a fraction away from a good, clean hit.

Inigo rolls with Xander's charge and gets underneath him. He then shoulder-throws Xander and sends the young man flying. Xander, surprised, doesn't quite recover well enough upon landing and rolls roughly to get himself back on his feet, slightly winded.

"Up close, your fighting is a thing of beauty." Xander says with a slightly worried grin before charging right back in. "I'm impressed!"

"Likewise." Inigo lets himself be pushed a little. "Your skill puts the rest of the competitors today to shame." He sees an opening and savagely counters.

As the fight continues, it becomes more and more clear that 'Laslow' is getting the upper hand, and a murmur runs through the crowd.

"Is this alright?" The Mercenary asks as Xander, deflected yet again, wipes his sweat with his sleeve. "I mean, for the crown prince of Nohr to just lose like this?"

Owain suddenly freezes. "Well, shit." He mutters, mimes stretching, and detaches himself from the crowd. He feels his tail follow him as he meanders off to buy a meat skewer or something. As he eats, he patrols the outer border of the crowd, focusing especially on the guards and the Nohrian troops, and come to the conclusion that, yes, they were about to royally screw themselves.

"We have a problem." Owain mutters into his radio as he finishes eating. "The kid you're up against is the crown prince of Nohr."

"That explains his tenacity." Inigo mutters as Xander charges him again. He gets an idea of what might be expected of him, so he purposefully slows down for half a step. Xander's charge clips Inigo's shoulder and Inigo lets himself be staggered for a step or two before countering just a step too slow, allowing Xander to escape with only a small bruise to show for it. Inigo's face shows a slightly playful grin as he sees Xander make a small fistpump of success for himself.

Xander didn't miss that smile. _He doesn't look like he's tired enough for me to catch him._ He suddenly realizes. _Is he faking it?_ He reads 'Laslow's' body language. _No, he's faking being tired._ Xander feels himself getting angry, and launches into another flurry of blows. _He's taking pity on me!_

"Sev and I are probably being marked right now." Owain says. "So do us both a favor and don't get us into more attention, alright?"

Over the next three minutes of fierce combat, Inigo masterfully plays the part of a man who's pretending to be anything but very tired and allows himself to be beaten _very slightly_ by Xander, just so the come-from-behind victory looks realistic. As Xander's blade knocks away Inigo's sword one last time, the crowd explodes into cheers for both the victorious prince and the surprisingly adept mercenary.

"What a marvelous actor." Niles muses with a smirk. "Three cheers for the other contestant, then." He says for Severa's sake, and politely claps.

 _He played me!_ Was Xander's only outraged thought, even as he smiles and shakes Laslow's hand. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" He asks to distract himself from his anger.

"From my mother, mostly." Inigo replies modestly. "She taught me everything I know."

Owain, seeing that this crisis has passed, sighs in relief…just as a hand grabs him by the shoulder. His training takes over and he immediately grabs the hand in response and, with a few twists, faces his would-be assailant.

A little girl with a grayish blue bob hair stares at him, seemingly unconcerned by the odd angle Owain has twisted her arm.

"Who are you?" Owain demands softly. "What do you want?"

The two of them, fortuitously, were right below Severa's perch, allowing both her and Niles to see what was going on.

Niles was not expecting his partner to move. _Goddammit._ He realizes as more and more attention is focused upon his mark. _I told her to wait for my signal!_ He draws his bow and aims it at Owain, only to see a sword's edge flash dangerously close to his eyes. _What?_

"I knew something was up." Severa sighs. "But goddammit I was willing to let this one walk away."

 _I didn't hear her move._ Niles gulps, feeling a bead of sweat roll down his neck. "It seems we're at an impasse." He says with his off-putting cheeriness. "Why don't you put away that sword of yours, and we can talk it out?"

"You moved first." Severa snaps. "Call off your girlfriend."

"She would kill the both of us if she heard that." Niles laughs. "But I'm afraid I cannot." He suddenly snaps his right arm into Severa's sword and knocks it away with his hidden blade.

Severa, not keen on getting into a fight on the first day of her infiltration, lets the man knock away her blade and follows it out through the open window. She drops down from the second floor down to the first, where Owain had pinned his mark to the ground and has expertly frisked away three of her knives. He gets the sense that there are more, but he doesn't have the time to confirm.

Hearing the scuffle, Xander is suddenly alert despite his exhaustion. "What's going on?" He demands as he looks around.

"Beats me." Inigo, playing the part of a mercenary to a T, fetches his and Xander's swords. "Here." He tosses Xander's blade to the young man.

"Thank you." Xander says formally, then draws his Silver Sword and signals into the air. "It seems that the guards posted for my safety has caught some…problems." He says apologetically, catching the sight of Owain wrestling the girl he knows.

 _Ah shit._ Inigo says on the inside. "You're really a prince, then?" He says on the outside.

"Despite my shortcomings, I am the first prince of Nohr." Xander says, a bit shamefacedly, especially in the presence of this far more skilled mercenary.

The crowd at this point has parted, just in time for the two of them to see Niles hop onto the roof and train his bow at Severa.

"Well this just took a turn for the worse." Severa growls. "Odin, let's get out of here."

"Aye." Owain gives his mark a pat on the back and jumps away. "Cavalry." He says as an alert.

Severa whips around to see a blue-haired, mounted girl charge full speed towards Owain. She gets the faint impression that the girl may be somewhat insane.

"Be-Ru-Ka!" The blue-haired, slightly insane cavalier girl lets loose a full powered stabbing strike at Owain. "Are you ok? Did you get stabbed? Did this weird man do weird things to you? Can you still get married?" She asks with inquisitive innocence, completely missing the fact that Owain dodged the strike like it was nothing.

"I'm fine." Beruka hops to her feet and draws a small hand axe. "These two must be captured."

"Oh my fucking god." Inigo sighs under his breath. "Selena! Odin! What are you two doing?!" He demands, making Xander flinch.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Owain protests. "All I had was a meat skewer and then that weird girl with the axe jumped me!"

"You were strange." Beruka replies coldly. "That's reason enough."

"Friends of yours, Laslow?" Xander asks conversationally.

"For better or for worse." Inigo sighs. "I apologize if they acted out of turn."

"She started it!" Owain insists (truthfully).

"They're baddies, right?" The cavalier says with a near-psychopathic grin. "So I get to stab!" She stabs at Owain again.

"For fuck's sake!" Owain deftly lets the lance strike go beneath his arm. Then, with a smooth, practiced motion, he taps the girl on the wrist, breaking her grip, and then snatches the lance away from her.

"You could've hurt somebody with this thing!" He carries the lance away with him.

"What? What what?" The cavalier is…surprised. "Hey! Give that back!" She, in order to pester Owain more effectively, dismounts and begins bopping him repeatedly on the back.

 _He's strong._ Xander notes. _Even if surprised, Peri's lance grip isn't something you can overcome just because you feel like doing it._ He frowns as Peri leaps onto Owain's back. "Peri, stop that. Remount and await for my orders."

"O-kaay." Peri replies, remounts, and folds her arms to sulk.

At this point, the Nohr guards have rallied, the villagers have cleared out into better viewing positions (because, hey, it's still a party to them) and our three brave heroes are trapped in a steadily enclosing circle of a hundred or so guards.

"Suffice to say, this wasn't in the cards today." Severa sighs. "I blame you, Niles." She shouts at the rooftops.

"And I gladly accept the blame." Niles laughs. "You should know all about standing too far out, lady…Selena, was it?"

"So, what do we do?" Owain asks conversationally as he and Severa rallies around Inigo.

Xander, at this point, has been whisked away by a pair of guards towards his younger siblings.

 _I should note: Xander, at this point, is 16._

"I'm glad my retainer was able to be of some use." Xander's little brother, Leo, says. "Though it seems he's caused more trouble than they should." He's 12.

"Are you ok, big brother?" Elise asks and waves around a toy staff. "Do you have owies?" She's 5.

"I suppose Beruka is to blame for this." Camilla huffs. "Should we just let them go?" She's 14.

"Unfortunately, they did lay a hand on Beruka, Peri, and Niles." Xander says. "So letting them go without repercussion would be unbecoming of our station." He takes a deep breath. "Guards, seize those three, but do not harm them!" _If the other two are even half as good as Laslow, then we would be doing Nohr an immense dishonor to pass over this kind of talent._ He reasons.

"Welp." Inigo tosses Owain his spare sword. "What's the plan?" He holds his sword in front of him like a salute.

"Kick their ass, break their spine, and then get the hell out of here." Severa sighs. "The hell did I do to deserve this? Also, no killing." She copies Inigo's move.

"Of course." Owain too.

Everyone watching blinks as the three people in the middle salute the surrounding guards with their swords. They then watch as the three run their index and middle fingers on their swords. Their eyes then get wider as the three swords begin to glow.

"Strike! LIKE LIGHTNING!" Owain roars. On that signal, he, Inigo, and Severa throw themselves into the guards, catching said guards entirely by surprise.

One guard homes in on Severa and feels slightly bad about attacking a pretty girl. Nevertheless, he stabs (with the blunt end) of his spear. Severa, in response, slams her blade into the spear. Almost instantly, the man feels a strange tingling sense travel through his body. Seconds later, trembling, he lets his spear clatter to the ground as he stumbles and falls.

Severa didn't bother seeing this, as by the time the man fell she had already struck and paralyzed two others.

The royal children, along with the rest of the civilians, watch in awe as the three strange mercenaries chew their way through the hundred guards in less than three minutes.

"Yikes." Camilla says with a soft whistle. "Not mere mercenaries, I see." She claps softly as the last guard falls.

"They're not even winded." Leo observes. "That puts them on par with our elites."

"What was that shiny thing?" Elise asks, jumping up and down in excitement. "It was so shiny!"

Xander glances at the guards. _A type of paralysis? It doesn't seem to be too long lasting._ He notes as the first struck guards begin to stand again. "Guards, when you have recovered, stand down." He orders. "As for the three of you…we have a proposition for you, one that will annul you of your crimes."

"That's a little rich, considering how you attacked us first and all." Severa sighs. "Fine; what do you want?"

Camilla smiles at her response. "I like her."

"Considering the current circumstances, you can either be kicked out of the country, or you can work for us." Leo says coolly. "I'd ask that you carefully consider your options."

"Again, you attacked us first." Severa grumbles. "But I—"

"Sure." Owain says, entirely nonchalant.

"O-Odin!" Severa almost spat out the wrong name. "WHAT?!"

"Did you forget that the little child soldier almost took your head?" Inigo asks, pointedly referring to Beruka as a child soldier to see the reactions of the royal children. They don't react.

Said child soldier, incidentally, had taken cover with the downed guards, and used this attempt to try and shank Owain with (the blunt end of) her knife.

"She didn't succeed, though." Owain says cheerily as he parries her strike with his sword hilt. "Besides." He adds with a knowing wink to Inigo. "It'll be fun." He yanks on Beruka's arm, bringing her in too close for her to strike, and then stroking her head like he often sees Ash does to Nah. Beruka is, understandably, not amused by any of this, and attempts to break free.

 _She can't break his grip?_ Camilla realizes as she sees Beruka squirming without avail. _Beruka, of all people?_

 _This is way too risky._ Inigo notes in his head as he laughs in response. "My goodness…your idea of fun is very strange. I'm in."

"I know why this is happening, and I don't like it one bit." Severa sighs under her breath. "Fine, where you go, I go." She squeezes the bridge of her nose. "You two are going to be the death of me."

"That was surprisingly easy, all things considered." Leo mutters.

…

[Next Morning]

…

"What the hell was that all about?!" Severa rounds on Owain after they were sure they were not being followed or tailed in any way. The three of them had agreed _somehow_ to become retainers of the royal family, and were given travelling notice to accompany the royal children back to Windmire soon. So they had a little time to sort everything out.

"We get a close look at the politics of Nohr, and we don't get thrown out of the country on our first day on the job." Owain replies. "Sounds like a win-win to me."

"We'll need to report this home." Inigo notes.

"I did that last night." Severa sighs. "I fully expect Ash to kill all of us in like a week."

"Considering that we're effectively deserting, yeah." Inigo sighs. Both of them glare at Owain.

"What? He'll be fine with it." Owain brushes off their accusing stares. "As long as we keep a low profile, nothing can go wrong!"

…

[2 Months Later, 1st Person Camera]

…

So I now have a pretty decent understanding of the Kingdom of NOHR, not Noire, and its buddy, the Kingdom of Hoshido.

Over the past two months, the two infiltration teams—Severa, Owain, Inigo being one of them—worked hard to collect social and economic data in the region while working undercover within their borders. According to their reports, they had an issue where they…basically got abducted into the royal guards?

So let's back up a second. Preliminary aerial recon showed that the subcontinent was large and would be too difficult to cover with just one team, which is why we sent two. Each team is about twelve people, with six in the field (two teams of three) and six back at a carefully cloaked 'home base'. Both of the home bases are close to the coastline and have a radio connection home to the mothership, in this case the Cruiser Starlight, and would report back whatever findings the field teams gave out. The Cruiser is also equipped with an on-board refurbished Pibbles to mint coins for the teams to use, because they need money to operate and don't have the time to farm for gold.

Ok, with that established.

The Severa, Owain, Inigo team apparently, ON THEIR FIRST DAY, fucked up so bad they had to commit treason against two different countries at the same time, with a dash of mass assault and desertion thrown in. My knowledge is based on Severa's report, so she might have embellished it a bit, but still.

Owain was the reason this happened, apparently…though that said, according to his report the reason why he had to act was because he was immediately singled out and attacked by a child assassin.

…well, his justification for hopping in was pretty good, actually: given that the three of them were willing to pick a fight with the local guards and win, it was a reasonable assumption to say that the three of them were of the "jump first, look later" kind of people. Since they had the skill, it made since that they would happily accept a job working for the royalty without really taking the time to consider the consequences.

So, y'know…ok, I guess. Considering that the end result is a net positive—we now have three operatives working within the Nohrian government—I'm willing to overlook the fact that the three of them had a serious case of the dumb dumbs. Standard Operating Procedure is to turn tail, run, duck down a side street, CLOAK for stealth, then get the hell out of dodge.

 _It's your fault for sending someone as pretty as Severa on an infiltration mission._

I guess. The Hoshido side has no such luck, by the way…which segues quite nicely into the overview on the two countries.

So, the two countries of Nohr and Hoshido are the major powers on the continent, with a few minor nations and one province minors on their periphery that are tributary allies. Of the minor nations, a pair of city-states named Izumo and Nestra are interesting, and I'll talk about why later.

From a wealth perspective, Nohr is pretty poor. The land is heavily saturated with adverse magical power, which makes traditional farming difficult and cuts into magical research (because shit keeps blowing up). There are large swaths of forests, and these trees have durability similar to iron, which also makes reclaiming farmland difficult. This lumber is interesting.

By comparison, Hoshido might as well be heaven on earth. While also saturated with magical power, the power is aligned surprisingly well with the land and thus pose no risk to farming. Fertile land and predictable weather patterns mean that Hoshido farmers are extremely productive, and the country is almost always at a food surplus. This is a bit of a problem for us, because foodstuff is our primary export.

I don't have enough information on the two country's technological levels, because we haven't had the time to find out anything beyond them having different weapon types from each other…though it's safe to assume that they're also in some kind of medieval stasis.

Government-wise, Nohr is pretty egalitarian. As a country with pretty limited wealth, the government favors skill over heritage or rank, and the aristocracy maintains a very tight-knit relationship with the people. This, I imagine, is why Nohr's royal family was not opposed to the idea of snatching up three mercenaries with dubious backgrounds. Talent has a tendency to flow from a poor nation to a rich one unless there's a pretty big reason to stay.

By contrast, Hoshido has an extremely strict social hierarchy, which is also why Hoshido's city team had a seriously hard time making progress. As a result, we don't know much about how the country is organized beyond the fact that it has a top-down system of management and ranks, and that the hierarchy is strictly (if only culturally) enforced. It's also more Japanese than Chon'sin, though that doesn't mean much.

I wonder if that means we have to add honorifics to the end of our proper nouns? That'll be a pain…

The royal family of Nohr is: King Garon (50s), Prince Xander (16), Princess Camilla (14), Prince Leo (12), and Princess Elise (5). According to Sev's team (and they've yet to meet Garon), Xander is basically a sterner Chrom, Camilla is walking sex-appeal-in-training, Leo is a serious bookworm, and attempting to harm Elise will cause all of Nohr to descend on you with a fury unmatched in all the history of man.

 _What?_

She's adorable and beloved by everybody.

 _Also, for reference: At this time, Peri is 12, Beruka is 17 (she's very small for her age), and Niles is 20. Effie is 8, and Arthur is 15, though they're not Elise's retainers yet._

The royal family of Hoshido is: King Sumeragi (40s), Queen Mikoto (40s), Prince Ryoma (15), Princess Hinoka (12), Prince Takumi (10), Princess Azura (10), and Princess Sakura (7). There's no information about the rulership, and since we don't have insiders like the Nohr side, knowledge about the kids are scant. Ryoma is very warrior-like, Takumi enjoys archery (and is good at it), and Hinoka and Sakura loves playing around the capital. Azura is apparently the odd one out, though the infiltration team has yet to find out why.

Neither team has encountered or has heard of anyone named Corrin or Kamui. Given that we have agents deeper in Nohr (and that poking around in Hoshido would be downright dangerous for the time being), we'll begin looking in Nohr.

 _Why do we care about those two in the first place?_

Corrin and Kamui? I'm interested to know if the two of them are able to create temporary gates. As a matter of opinion I'm pretty sure they don't, but making sure doesn't hurt. Looking for those two kids are a secondary priority, though…if they _are_ able to create gates, then I have to look into either recruiting them or, god forbid, orchestrate an assassination before things can get out hand.

 ** _So our secondary priority is a highly immoral act. What's the first one?_**

Oh, you're here today. The first priority is metal.

 _Say hi to Grima everybody. As with everything else, it's complicated._

 ** _I'm a god I get to do whatever I want._**

Shush. The Hoshido team sent back a sample of mineral that the LOTR-loving fans of the geology team have dubbed 'Mithril'. The Nohr team sent back something similar enough that we're classing it as the same material. Both teams also sent back a few purchased Bronze weapons made within the country, and…they're damn good.

This 'mithril' is tough, and very magically active. Weapons infused with this material are seriously strong, to the point where they might as well be unbreakable…tests have shown that the Bronze weapons brought back has a form of autorepair, where if the weapon is not overstressed (read: broken) it will repair back to its original state within an hour. Neither team has located any mines of the material, so I assume it's either a closely guarded secret, or else a composite material made in a forge. Our mineralists are looking into reproducing the material, but hoooo boy it's early in the theoretical stage. We don't have enough people with knowledge about minerals…and don't have enough spare manpower in the first place.

But either way, I want that mithril. Come spring (6 months from now) I'm going to send a proper ship to the continent and establish formal contact.

Also, the Hoshido side has informed me that the country *might* have a new mount that we've never encountered before, so that's also worth looking into. Apparently it's a large bird of some kind.

 _Why send infiltrations in the first place?_

The infiltration teams are there to scope out information that we need to know to do work: local culture, language, what kind of money they accept, military organization…I figured sending out advance teams would be a good idea after Nino's Neverland basically ran headfirst into a siege the instant it went to Elibe. As useful as the show of force was, I'd like to avoid doing that as our opening act for the future.

…

So…yeah. For now though, our resource are being committed to putting our foot down on Magvel.

 _What's wrong with the Jewel?_

The Jewel of the coast, as our de-facto capital, has been under the Phoenix control for the better part of the past…five years now? Wow, time flies, huh…

Ahem. Point is, Great Khan Flavia and Khan Basilio were very generous in basically ceding a part of Ferox to an outside presence with little to no forewarning. The Khan elections are coming up (once every 8 years) and following Flavia's little stint in recruiting an outsider for her bid (read: recruiting Chrom) there is now a new law in place that says that each Khan in the contest can only use retainers under their direct leadership, and those retainers must be registered with the competition before it even starts.

So there's no guarantee that Flavia will win reelection, and any shady business being conducted by other countries will be greatly looked down upon. If Flavia doesn't win, then there's absolutely nothing stopping the next Khan of Ferox from reclaiming the Jewel…because though it's been ceded, the Jewel is still considered a core state of Ferox, and thus its sovereign territory. Yeah, Ylisse and Plegia will complain, but if the sparks start flying, I'm of the opinion that they will side with the nations they have a longer history with, rather than one that just appeared out of thin air.

Plus, I've done a lot to make sure my aristocracy plays fair. The aristocracy does not want to play fair. I've caught at least two such aristocratic families trying to engender support within the Jewels' citizenry to get them to flip back to Feroxi control. It didn't work, mind you, but the fact that the sentiment is there is enough for me to plan for a contingency.

Plus plus, there's not much land around the Jewel left for expansion, and having my own continent sounds _way_ the fuck more attractive than just kicking around in a small corner of the world.

Anyhoo.

[Magvel, D-Day]

So, it's been 2000 years since the events of Sacred Stones happened in Magvel. In the story of that game, there was a reference to a great cataclysmic event that would occur in the near future.

Well, that event was an earthquake with magical origins. Our understanding of how magic interacts with planetary geological features isn't high enough to truly understand what happened, but apparently some kind of magical output was involved along with the earthquake.

Point is, that earthquake undid the ending of Sacred Stones. Namely, the sealing of the Demon King Fortimois(?) within the game's titular Sacred Stones…the last of its kind.

…Given that Fortemois (I don't know how to spell his name) was sealed with the Great Temple or something, and that the game's resident dragon girl Myrrh lives in or near that temple, it's probably a fair guess to say that she was the first casualty of what happened next.

 _The actual name is Fomortiis. We'll be using the proper name from here on out, but assume that Ash is getting the name wrong every time you see it._

What happened next, of course, was the re-introduction of demonic creatures (flying eyes, gargoyles, gorgons, zombies, etc) to the continent of Magvel. Given that the continent no longer had Sacred Stones to reseal Fomortiis, I assume they basically fought a slowly losing battle until humanity on the continent was either snuffed out entirely, or has been reduced so much that it's no longer a factor.

At this moment, our fleet is arranged near the Great Temple located deep in the forests. We've been doing high-altitude aerial recons over the continent and have seen nothing but ruined castles and flattened towns, which is why I think the humans are dead.

…But anyways.

It's roughly fifteen miles from here to the temple. Our fleet is comprised of one carrier (The brand new CPA-CV-03 Audhulma), four Cruisers, and twelve Destroyers. Carrier aside, each ship is armed with a long-range main cannon rated at 20 miles, so range is far and away not a problem.

…As for why I'm not solving this problem myself, it should be obvious. Confidence corresponds to morale, and there's no better way to infuse the Phoenix Empire with the sense of martial prestige it needs than to literally pound a Demon King and all of his buddies into smithereens.

…Though the three of us (Me, Tiki, Robin) will all deploy if things start taking a turn for the disastrous.

…

Ok.

From my position inside the Audhulma CIC, I watch as the sixteen ships with guns angle their guns at the correct angles—all of them report their data to the Audhulma in actual wireless networking. Fuck yeah, actual network people™.

"CIC to bridge, we're ready to engage on your order." The CIC officer says.

I'm not taking command, just watching, in case you're wondering.

 ** _Lazy._**

"Bridge to CIC. All ships, commence fire."

You went on a vacation, you have no room to talk.

"CIC copies. All ships, commence fire, ten round barrage."

 _This is a reminder that everything without quotes during first person camera mode is happening within the mind. Our head is a very loud place._

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

A high-altitude recon flight of two Pegasus Knights—callsign 'Antares'—soar high over the battlefield. Cloaked and beyond the flight ceiling of the weird floaty eyeballs, the four girls (two riders, two watchers) observe the temple beneath them with magically enhanced spyglasses.

They watch as the temple start exploding. Every few seconds, a few more hits. At around the eighth barrage, they hear something like collapsing stone.

"Good hits." Antares One reports as a cloud of dust erupts from the temple. "The temple's going down."

As the temple's stone structure collapses, a small dot (to Antares) appears on the map.

"That thing's radiating magic." Antares Two points out. "Audhulma, do you have a firing resolution?"

One of the first things the DEP figured out was parabolic equations. For the DAE, it was the maydar/radar integrated artillery computer (MRIAC, pronounced 'Myriac', like 'myriad' but with a c.)

"Audhulma here, we have a lock on its position." The CIC officer says with a grin. "All ships, concentrate fire on target, 3 shots." The ships' main guns answer as one.

Coming of the shattered temple debris, Formortiis is a sizable being. A hulking and imposing figure standing a hundred feet tall and layered with inhumanely tough muscle, the Demon King stands over the shattered remains of his temple, looking like a ghost, rising from the ashes.

At 10,000 feet in the air, the Antares flight literally could not care less. They watch as the second barrage of shots impact Fomortiis's position, not quite landing direct hits, but ripping into the area around it with near pin-point accuracy.

"Hit effective." Antares One reports. "Smoke is obscuring target, cannot visually identify damage."

"Holy shit." Antares Two's rider hears a harsh beeping in her ear. "Maydar just went nuts. Audhulma, eyes open."

"Audhulma to all ships, incoming aerial contact." The CIC officer says with a nod, watching the ship's maydar go from nearly no targets at all to 'complete blanket of targets'. "Continue bombardment, prepare for anti-aircraft interdiction."

The Destroyers and the Cruisers ready their spate of high-velocity autocannons.

"This is the best day of my life." One of the gunners sob as he semi-perversely strokes his gun's firing mechanism. Given that these autocannons have an entire ship's worth of weight to work with instead of a prototype that had to work with the weight requirements of a single human, each autocannon effectively have infinite ammo with a 1500 round-per-minute firing speed.

Each Destroyer carries eight of these guns. Each Cruiser? Twenty.

"Remember to keep in your zones so you don't oversaturate your target areas." One Destroyer gun captain warns over his radio. "Keep spread to maximum and an eye on your IFFs. I'll have your head if you hit the ship."

Another gunner watches as the Audhulma deploys its full complement of Pegasus, Wyvern, and Griffon Knights. In almost no time at all, 200 aerial combat units take into the skies, armed with a mix of traditional weapons like spears and poleaxes along with the Phoenix-specific equipment, like the airman rifle, and the combat rigging.

 _Airman rifle: basically a rifle, but works on thunder magic, coil/rail gun technology instead of chemical propellant bullets. Standard armament for all air units._

 _Combat rigging: weapon pylons for the flyers. They allow a Pegasus knight to carry munitions like bombs or guns without having to actually use their hands. For visual reference, think of the 'arms' on an attack helicopter in every movie scene where said helicopter is facing the camera._

 _They also come with a set of engines, so called Cruise Engines, which allows the Pegasus/Wyvern/Griffon extra agility while also cancelling out the weight of the rigging._

The commander of the Phoenix's 1st Carrier Division, Colonel Amelia, looks to her left and right as her flight organizes into their squadrons of four. She raises her weapon, a savage-looking poleaxe with a green, glowing gem, over her head.

Another barrage of long-range fire erupts from the ships, tearing into the incoming screens of flying eyes (Mogalls) and Gargoyles, but not hitting ground.

"Oh lordy that's a lot." Antares One whistles. "I'm gonna take a picture." She takes out a small snapshot tome and takes a snapshot of the crescent-shaped writhing mass enclosing on the ships.

"Enemy units are within the first line of defense. Commence fire." The CIC Officer orders.

The ships drop thick pipes into the ocean to get water for their ammo (remember that it's basically ice shards) and lets loose.

Instantly, the crescent of enemies slams into a wall of bullets. Mogall and Gargoyle bodies begin to drop en-masse from the sky like some demented waterfall.

"We can pump 'em out faster than you can breed, darlings." The ship gunner says with a manic laugh. "Keep 'em coming!"

"I have to admit, this is pretty cool." Antares One grins at the streaks of light radiating outwards from the ships. "Even from this far up."

"Yeah." Antares Two agrees. She then notices something odd about the incoming demons. "Antares Two to ships, it looks like they're spilling over to circle." She reports. Below her, the mass of monsters, in their effort to reach the ships while being stonewalled by incoming fire, had expanded their circle into a progressively more secure sphere.

"This is Crown Leader, we see the incoming enemies." Amelia reports. "First and second wings will engage the higher altitude targets, third and fourth wings will handle the ones striking at our rear." She listens for the respective squad leaders to acknowledge over their radios. "Alright. All units, engage!"

Antares One watches as the spread of orange particle trails, the signature visual detail of the Phoenix Cruise Engines, whirl, spread, and dive right into the incoming batch of enemies.

"Demon King at vector 3-4-0." Antares Two reports. "About time he showed up again."

Formortiis was lumbering towards the coastline. He went about five more steps before a barrage of long range fire knocked him back.

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

Fomortiis holds against our bombardment for two hours. Eventually the firepower was too much for him, and he falls, dead….but just in case, I went in with Tiki and Robin and we burned the corpse. Then we cut it into pieces and burned it again. Then we roped the area off and incinerated the area with blanket napalm and a thermobaric warhead, just to be sure.

Anyhoo…final casualty tallies were: 6 injured fighters (3 Pegasus, 1 Wyvern, 2 Griffon). The new armor is paying some serious dividends, not gonna lie.

Offense-wise, we spent approximately 2 million rounds of not-big-gun fire per ship, so…it's fair to say we killed maybe a million demons? It's hard to keep track with just our eyeballs. A million demons, I should note, is a drop in the bucket with regards to how many demons are still on the continent.

After ensuring that Fomortiis was fuckin' dead™ we had to withdraw to open ocean, because the demon count was starting to overwhelm our ships. (Again, withdraw is better than having the three of us bail them out because it's good training).

With the Demon King dead, though, the Demons have lost a lot of their aggregation capability—the most we see afterwards are just batches of a few hundred or so, easy pickings.

…

So…yeah. I can't say that we've 'won' in any decisive way, but we're now able to establish a foothold on the continent. Our foothold, incidentally, used to be the country of Frelia, on the continent's northwestern corner. The major earthquake (and probably later events) have shifted the coastline to the point where the ruins of the old Castle Frelia—the only landmark that's still around—is like, 4 miles from the coast.

…Though I guess it could be something other than Castle Frelia since it's not labeled or anything, but…eh. Semantics.

 _… **I noticed you didn't say anything about Izumo or Nestra.**_

…

Uh…

…

Izumo and Nestra are protectorates underneath Hoshido and Nohr, respectively. Both city-states are ostensibly neutral, but both of them *must* do as their overlords tell them to, largely because the other party that could theoretically protect their neutrality is separated by geographical features like the gorge in the center of the subcontinent and water.

If we are to do something permanent on the subcontinent, then those two cities are likely going to be the best bets for substantial first contact.

…For now though, I got a capital to build.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

If you have something interesting you want to say, then please do so as a signed-in review or private message, because very good points keep on getting made that I can't reply to 'cuz they're coming from a guest account.

I mean, if you have/want to make an account in the first place.

(Also, and I imagine by now almost everyone knows this, but just to be clear: LOTR = Lord of the Rings)


	4. Part 2: Official Contact

{ === + === }

[6 Months Later, on the Subcontinent]

Wow this place is crap.

 _We're doing field scoping of the two countries._

First Nohr, then Hoshido.

The field scoping is basically three parts per nation: first I do some high-level scouting, then I walk and talk with people (depending on circumstance), then I go talk to the big heads of state.

Since I plan to snatch Nestra and Izumo from the spheres of Nohr and Hoshido respectively, it makes sense for me to find out the political climate. No point starting a war immediately after arriving, after all.

…To that end, I've been doing high-level scouting of Nohr, and now I'm on the 'walk and talk' phase of the plan.

I have to say though…Severa's insertion team greatly underestimated the sheer poverty of the Nohrian citizenry. From up high I could tell that many of the villages heavily relied on foraging coming out of winter, and that's a horrid sign of things.

Take…oh, Ferox. Ylisse is too comparatively rich to be a good example. Ferox has some pretty brutal winters, and come spring most people are pretty low on their food. They complement their food stores through sporadic winter hunting and fishing, and generally are not, y'know, mass-foraging.

Nohr people seemed to be mass foraging. It's worth noting, though, that the Nohr populace isn't exactly unhappy about this. From what I could tell while flying, the teams are highly organized, highly motivated, and are more than willing to take a personal hit in favor of making sure everyone got enough food to bring home.

…Makes me wonder how much that sense of egalitarianism will survive once we join the picture.

Anyways, now that I'm on the ground, I can tell, at a glance, what the biggest reason for the food shortage may be. The reason is: Magic™.

Magic runs through the land, and its concentration and depletion changes plant growth. Usually this isn't a problem because plants can adapt to changes in concentration about as well as humans do, but Nohrian soil has a major problem where the magic is just _fucking everywhere_ and spikes and pools in unusual positions.

So…yeah. It's not a great time for people without the ability to manipulate large quantities of magic power.

 _We visit the nearest village for our ground inspection._

This village is very close to Nestra. I figured that, since I'm going to be taking over Nestra (maybe) it would be better to get a good read on the villages that will invariably fall under our economic bubble (that is, they're under a day's travel distance and would do business with Nestra).

So I put a few hours visiting some of the houses in the village, walking around, talking to people…bribing people here and there…

…The people are, as expected, very egalitarian. They're keen to make friends and are of the belief that…well, sharing is caring. Also as expected, this sense of equality and fairness tends to wane as we go up the social ladder.

The villagers barely scraping by? Very friendly, very open to outsiders, and very keen to share, despite having preciously little.

The mayor? Noticeably less amicable.

So it's more or less a confirmation of what I thought I saw from five thousand feet in the air, just more…personal.

 _We move on to the city itself._

Nestra…is a hellhole. I don't think I've ever seen a shoreside city that's as seeped in squalor as this one.

So Nestra's general shape, as seen from the air, is a circle inscribed into a smooth shoreline. It looks like a cookie that's been carved in by…another cookie. It's has fortifications shaped like a ring, and gives me a sense that it's inspired by Venice with the sheer number of large waterways that run through the city. The density of the city…well, it's as dense as a city could be when buildings are, at best, two-story houses. There is also a large, stadium-like building, but it's decrepit and heavily run-down.

The problem of the city (after doing a walk-around) is that it's _too_ dense for its infrastructure. The roads are tiny, laid out with the…history? Of constant and consistent use of the waterways for travel. Many of the houses have waterside accesses that they don't use anymore.

 _Why?_

In a nutshell? Trash. People make waste as they live, and that waste has to go somewhere. I'm not sure how well Venice dealt with this problem back during the Medieval ages, but here people just dump their stuff into the waterways.

It stinks. There exists a series of structures in Nestra's waters, and I don't really know what they do, but I imagine that they are responsible (in some way) to Nestra's highly stagnant waterways. I'll need to bring in a specialist to figure out exactly what's going on.

 _Why can't we just ask them?_

After touring the place…Nestra's government body is a bit on edge. It's not very popular, so any overt questions to why things are going poorly is treated like an act of sedition. The reason for its unpopularity is because the general populace isn't too happy with having to pay tax revenue while getting nothing in return (on top of everything else that's going wrong). I would say that I'm surprised about the population not rising up in revolt already, but it's obvious Nohr would jump in and take over if it happened, so…yeah. Unfortunate status quo.

Plus they're constantly being harassed by coastal raiders, which…is a bit of a surprise, but I guess it's a sign of my naivety that I considered Nohr and Hoshido to be homogenous states in the first place.

…I will say though, it's a sign of the Fire Emblem universe's inherent resilience that Nestra hasn't been mauled by disease over and over again. Diseases do exist, but they're pretty tame, I think? I don't have a good feel of large-scale diseases since I've never really seen one before. Ylisse is the country I have the most experience with, and they have a very sophisticated plumbing network.

For the record, I do have Outrealmers with knowledge and experience with regards to dealing with large scale plagues, as well as doctors that work in tandem with healers to basically stop everything short of literal death. Should a plague break out, we'll at least have the skill on hand, if not necessarily the resources.

In any case, Nestra's population is unhappy about their situation, Nestra's ruling government is also unhappy about its situation but can't really do anything about it, and overall…if a third party with the clout to match Nohr were to suddenly show up…

Hmm. It might be tricky, all things considered. Let's see what their royal court things first, I suppose.

…

[Windmire]

Fuuuck this place is dreary. Windmire is built into what is basically a giant crater, with many sections of walls serving as defenses for a city that has a natural terrain disadvantage against a besieging force. The city is also way bigger than it has any right to be, considering its location and the amount of arable land that surrounds its walls.

Like…I hesitate to make a joke about this place, but like, Windmire is like 90% Soviet Concrete and 10% Wicked Metal Spirals, and I don't even know why that makes sense. The buildings are blocky, the streets are narrow, and the entire above ground section of the city feels like it's built for defense with the chief engineer going "wait, people are going to live here?" about a week before the project deadline.

Below ground, though, the city is pretty vibrant, showing a kind of…I dunno, spirit. The city is a master of magic lights, and there's quite a bit we can learn from this place.

The castle in the center, Krakenburg, is a disaster waiting to happen. I don't know who decided that it would be a good idea to build a castle in the middle of a pit and frankly I don't really want to know. The castle's main accesses are raised off of the ground, precariously.

 _Remember that the palace is built in the middle of a gigantic pit with zero rails or guides, and preciously little light on the access paths._

Like holy shit can you imagine defending this place? The attackers don't even need to charge in. They can just ring their mages around the hole and shoot into it forever. Sheesh.

Also doesn't the castle have, like, small children? How do they not fall off?

 _We do a quick flight check of the distance between the main access and the ground._

It's a twenty meter drop. I am reasonably certain that most people cannot survive a twenty meter drop. Tangent: I love having free flight.

Anyhoo…let's go inside.

 _We requested, and were given permission, for a royal audience. Apparently they weren't too busy on this day._

As for the insides…it's dreary, though considering the state of the city this doesn't really come as a surprise. The throne room is large but rather poorly lit. Apart from myself there are a few more minor nobles in attendance, whispering, no doubt, about my appearance.

I've shown up in a crisp black suit, by the way. A fitted black suit, black trousers, white T-shirt, well-shined shoes, and everything treated to resist dirt, blood, stabs, and magical attacks _._ Oh, just for the record: this is the default gear for all diplomatic actions conducted in an official manner: No high heels and skirts for the girls, because they look damn good in a suit without having to compromise their ability to get into a scrap, and this is Fire Emblem, so being able to get into a scrap is mandatory.

Anyways, we're left to wait until a herald brings in the king.

"His Majesty, King Garon!" The herald calls out. The King (in all of his Royal Regalia) strides to his throne.

Garon is…old-looking? He looks way older than his age would suggest. He's decked in very ornate armor, but is otherwise unarmed. Physically, the dude is huge. Magically, he's above average but not especially so.

 _Garon stares us down for a few seconds before descending the stairs leading to his throne._

Huh. He's also quite severe-looking, with bags underneath his eyes that show a…harrowing lack of sleep. He has a young kid, doesn't he?

 _He stares at us for a few more seconds before breaking into a massive smile._

"Welcome to Windmire, sir Ash!" He booms jovially and claps me on my shoulder. "I hope Nohr's weather has been kind to your visit."

"It is certainly unique." It's been nice and sunny so far. "I apologize for drawing you away from your other duties."

"As well you should be." He says with a coy smirk. "I daresay my daughter will have a word with you after this audience is over!"

A small girl (who I assume is the daughter in question) charges into the throne room after Garon.

"Dad!" The small girl cries out. "Leo's being mean to me!" I recognize her tone. It's called 'shift the blame'. She's: blond, tiny, and has a look of pure innocence to her. They're related?

A boy (probably Leo) follows after her. "Did not!" He defends himself before seeing me. He coughs to regain some honor. "Hello, sir, I am Prince Leo." He says with a polite bow. D'aww. Also: blond, weedy, bookworm-type. His shirt collar's also messed up.

"And this little troublemaker" Garon sweeps the small girl up as she gives a squeal of happiness "is Elise, the youngest Princess." He gives me a slightly apologetic smile before tickling Elise's face. "Say hi to the nice man, Elise." He prompts her.

"Hello!" Elise waves furiously in our direction. "Dad, dad! Can we play?!" She says, now completely ignoring my existence.

"Daddy's working right now." Garon explains warmly. "We can play when I've finished this audience, ok?"

Elise sulks. "Then I'll watch you work." She says, nestling deeper(?) into Garon's shoulder plate.

Garon sighs, a sigh that has a chuckle mixed in. "Apologies." He says to me.

"I understand." I really do. "My oldest daughter is very like her." Except that she literally breathes fire and can punch through solid steel plates.

"Oh my. How old?" He asks.

"She's six, and boy oh boy does she get into trouble." I sigh theatrically. "If only she was as good of a princess as little Elise!"

Elise giggles and squirms, then gives a squeal of shock as she loses her balance and tips backwards. Garon of course catches her with his Dad Reflexes and puts the little girl down.

"Now then, onto business." Garon motions for me and the other nobles to go to an adjacent room.

 _We do the business of negotiations while Elise curiously reads the paperwork I've brought. Every so often, she goes "what's this?" while pointing to a word on a page, prompting Leo to help her with pronunciation and definition._

Obivously I'm not showing any Phoenix specific cards unless I absolutely have to, so they don't see anything that they normally would not see.

 _Thoughts?_

[Nohr's Royal Family]

Garon seems to have an amazing rapport with the other nobles in his court. There's a sense of trust and commonality here that doesn't exist literally anywhere else. He listens to those minor nobles when they voice a complaint, and they in turn trust in his judgment and decisions as unbiased and wise.

…Of course, all of this could just be a show done for our benefit, but the Nobles' lack of reactions to Elise doing whatever she wants implies that everything seems to be as it seems. Also, there was a room next door to the one we were introduced to, and that room had multiple magic signatures, so I'm sure that the scene they're presenting to me is on the level.

I haven't managed to meet the other two kids, which is kinda unfortunate. I think their sigs were next door (give the disparity in power) but I can't be too sure.

 _Sidenote: Elise and Leo were in plain clothes, rather than their Dark Knight/Troubadour gear…not that they have those gears right now anyway._

The kids seem to love their father without regard for station or rank, which is nice, and is unusual for Fire Emblem courts in general.

 _Final verdict?_

I think we'll have a good relationship with the country, if only because they, whether they admit it or not, really need us.

…

[3rd Person Camera]

Hours after Ash's meeting, King Garon sits with Xander, Leo, Camilla, and a spate of minor nobles…more than twice the amount that were actually in attendance during the meeting.

"So, what do you think?" Garon asks once everyone was seated.

"Too good to be true." Minor Noble A says immediately to general agreement. "There is no way a massive trade empire will just conveniently appear on our borders, looking to do business."

"I second that thought." Minor Noble B says. "Though I will add that the man's outfit is certainly strange, which does lend credit to his claims."

"Agreed." Minor Noble C adds. "From a quality standpoint, he's certainly a merchant with some power behind him."

Leo jumps in at this point. "Not only that, but the man has an extremely healthy pool of magical power behind him. He's very likely not _just_ a merchant."

Noble A frowns. "Do you think he's being forthright about who he is?"

Garon grins. "He's about as forthright as us." The gathered group chuckles at that. "I'd rather not worry too much about the intricacies when we have precious little information. As an initial judgment, what are your thoughts?"

Iago, Garon's chancellor, raises his hand. "I believe that it is in our best interest to make good with him, and his 'Empire'. Regardless of the truth of the matter, the fact remains that he is going to Hoshido."

"True." Xander agrees. "There's not much for us to lose by holding him to his word." He looks over to his retainer. "Your thoughts, Laslow?" Inigo was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed.

"Ah, erm." Inigo wasn't expecting to be called upon. "I suppose so. If he's lying, he'll only have himself to embarrass."

Garon nods. "Looks like we're of the same mind." He stands straight. "Motion to work with the Phoenix Empire. All in favor?"

"Aye." Everyone at the table says.

Garon smirks. "All opposed?" Silence. "Good. Motion passed."

"With all due respect." Iago adds. "If he's a trader that specializes in naval transportation, then it's expected that he would want a port in our territory. I suggest that we give him governorship of Nestra."

"I second the idea." Noble B raises his hand. "Nestra's populace believes we have been ignoring them as of late. This will solve two of our problems at once."

"As always, I wish we had something substantial to send to the city." Garon laments. "All in favor?" He takes another vote. "Motion passed, we'll hand Nestra over to the Phoenix Empire."

"Is this alright?" Leo asks aloud. "Nestra's technically not a city under Nohr jurisdiction."

"Nestra's condition is getting worse." Garon replies. "So if this Phoenix Empire can improve their quality of life, then I will gladly pay for it with my reputation."

Leo nods. "Understood, father."

…

[1st Person Camera, our survey of Hoshido]

…

This place is SO DIFFERENT holy fucking shit.

So! Crossing the gorge is a piece of cake when flying at 10,000 feet. The terrain on Hoshido's side of the continent is…so much better at sustaining life than the Nohrian side.

…Also, the gorge gives off some strange magical signatures that I can't quite place. It's very faint, and I'm sure I only picked it up through a coincidence.

…I feel like I'm going to regret saying this, but it's probably nothing.

Either way, Hoshido, as the advance team survey says, is in a way better economic condition than Nohr.

From a people standpoint, though…yeah, they're more…I hesitate to call them 'authoritarian', but there is definitively a greater focus towards the adherence to a strict social hierarchy than Nohr.

For example, when I tried to meet with a village head, there was serious pushback with regards to the idea of an elder meeting with a 'mere trader'. Of course, their tune shifted rather heavily when I offered a 5,000 gold gift, but money tends to break down all gates.

I will note though: villages closer to Izumo tend to be less strict with their hierarchy, while villages and towns closer to the capital are more strict. Towns closer to the gorge also tend to be more heavily fortified, too, which…really isn't a surprise.

The Nohrian side is not as fortified, and it's not as populated. Nohr defends with territory while Hoshido defends with firepower, I guess.

Anyhoo.

 _We go to the capital of Hoshido, Shirasagi._

Technically the castle town surrounding the castle, but who's counting? The capital is very well regulated, very well structured. It reminds me of Ylisstol, only with Asian archecture. Also their castle is apparently on top of a seriously hard-to-scale mountain/hill. A quick flight check tells me that the distance from the capital to the castle (directly upwards) is about a thousand feet.

Some engineers _really_ hate the royal families, apparently. Shirasagi is, like the rest of the country, rich in natural features, and thus it is incredibly beautiful. No wonder the people are proud as fuck.

…After a little observation, I have deduced that people from the castle travel to-and-fro through the use of Pegasi and giant birds. I have never seen these giant birds before and uh…I want some.

From a job standpoint, though…I was unable to get an audience with King Sumeragi. My title is considered titular by Hoshido (in that I have no territory on the subcontinent) and thus my rank of Emperor is not respected.

I am…not surprised by this, considering the difficulty involved in talking to that village elder earlier, but it does make dealing with the nation difficult.

…Well, whatever. If Hoshido's going to snub me, then I'm just going to go to Izumo directly. If Hoshido isn't gonna play ball, then I'll just take what I want from right underneath their noses.

I am not a good person.

Izumo, like Nestra, is a coastal town. However, since Hoshido is so freakishly fertile the city is basically a land-locked town that just happens to be next to the water. There exist some fishing facilities, but they are badly underdeveloped and are unused.

The lands around Izumo are farmed in a very organized way, like literally every other Hoshidan town/village, so no surprises there. The wall of the city is also not very high and show very little signs of damage patching, meaning that the city has very little experience with siege warfare.

In retrospect I can say the same for Nestra, though their walls show more signs of financial neglect.

…Hmm. I'm curious. How long would it take for us to go from Nestra to Izumo?

 _We do a quick flight check._

If we were to take a direct path between the two towns, I can reach Nestra from Izumo, while going at almost mach speed, in about ten minutes.

So…lessee here…

 _Math in progress._

…maybe a hundred miles or so? I say 'almost mach speed' but it's not like I have a speedometer built into my head.

Either way, the Phoenix does have hydrofoils for coastal navigation, and those things get some pretty respectable speeds, so the two towns should have no problems connecting to each other when the time comes.

The minor islands in the middles are also worthy of interest. The islands are pretty small, but we can find a use for them. One is flat enough that we can use it as an airfield, but since I didn't go down for a closer look I won't bet money on it.

…Well, that aside, let's take a look around Izumo for good.

 _So we do. After some time of walking around and examining wares…_

A Lobster. There is a walking, robed Lobster. What?

 _We do a double take at the possession moving down the street in front of us._

What in the fuck? That's totally a walking Lobster. I mean, I _know_ it's a human, but…it's a Lobster.

 ** _Follow them._**

Hell yeah.

 _So we do._

Izumo's streets are wide and open, and it is thus very easy to see that this walking lobster is someone of an extremely high status. Civilians are hurrying to get out of his way as he walks through the street, and the owners of the stalls he visits are visibly uncomfortable in his presence and accedes to his every word.

The Lobster himself, judging by his body language, is none too happy that people are basically falling over themselves kissing his ass.

 ** _Is Lobster Ass delicious?_**

I…no, I don't know. Do Lobsters have asses? Why am I getting caught up in _this_ fucking tangent?

…Hm?

 ** _Behind you._**

…I feel them.

 _There are two magical signatures behind us. They are noticeable because they stand out from the crowd._

 **By the feel of it, they are not mages, but they have plenty of combat experience under their belts.**

Noted. So this means that either I or the Lobster is being tailed. Considering the circumstances, if the Lobster commands respect, then he's either a high ranking noble or royalty, in which case it would make sense that I would be tailed.

 _Note: we are still wearing our Diplomacy Suit, but have opted to cover it with a good quality (if a bit dirty) robe._

I look like a nerd pretending to be a samurai. Either way, let's see what we're dealing with.

 _We turn to look for the signatures visually._

 ** _Black hair to your left, Red hair in the back right._**

Thank you…Ah-ha.

They're…really well blended in. Wow. The two of them are making their way towards me very quickly, and if I didn't have the ability to home in on their magical signatures I would not be able to tell them apart from the rest of the people on the streets.

As things are, though, the black hair—a busomy lady with a severe face—puts a hand on my shoulder. "We'd like a word with you." She says while smiling. She's dressed like a Mercenary (the unit type), but the odd mismatch of her gear (like a sword sheath with an obviously different shaped sword) makes it rather clear that she's just in disguise.

Good. "How convenient." I grin.

…

She escorts us, a few paces behind the Lobster Lord, and we all eventually make our way into Castle Izumo. I love how Japanese this place is, not gonna lie. When this is all said and done I'm gonna go and do some shopping.

Izumo castle is...not as grandiose as Shirasagi, but it's still pretty neato. Apart from its seriously Japanese architecture there isn't much I can say about it, largely because I'm being escorted to a meeting room and thus has no spare time to look around.

(Yes I can look around if I "get lost" but I can do that when I'm not preoccupied and under close guard)

The busomy dark haired lady escorts us to a room with some rather moderate furnishing. I imagine that this room exists to receive minor nobles and the like.

"Please wait here." She says formally, bows, then leaves us alone.

…Well, not _alone_ , per se. The other guy, the red-hair, is also in the room with us. He's hiding, but his signature can't be hidden. He probably doesn't know that he has one, does he?

Hmm…well, I feel like I can do something about this. Yo.

 ** _Yeah?_**

Let me borrow some power for…political, purposes.

 ** _Ooh, this should be good. Here you go, my man._**

 _We zero in on the signature hiding in the darkness and stare with a sly smirk._

Thank you. And a one, and a two…

[3rd Person Camera]

The hidden agent, a Ninja by the name of Saizo (the Fifth), felt like he drew the short straw for the day, being tasked not with the defense of his sworn lord, but to watch over this…strange man, who had been milling about Izumo strangely.

Saizo had full confidence in his skill as the fifth in the line of Saizos, and thus was unpleasantly surprised when the man, who was sitting on the other end of this thirty-foot-wide room, suddenly looked directly towards him. As he pondered on the man's actions, wondering if it was serious, there was a sudden stir of power that seemed to flow in his direction.

Saizo subtly drew a knife in case the man was going to execute some plan, but nothing happened.

Then, Saizo felt the hairs on his neck stand, and every fiber of his body screamed at him to run away. As he looked towards this stranger again, he felt as if their eyes had locked.

Saizo, barely controlling his breathing to keep it from being audible, felt as if he was suddenly being engulfed by the claws of some massive dragon. The feeling lasted for only a moment before passing, allowing Saizo to regain control without doing something drastic, like, say, throwing a shuriken at the man sitting peacefully.

[1st Person Camera]

…That's underwhelming. Boo. He's not crying and there is no sign of fear. Boo. Fucking professional ruining my fun. Super boo.

…

 _We sit and wait for the better part of an hour._

I BELIEVE I CAN FLY~~

 ** _I BELIEVE I CAN TOUCH THE SKY~_**

I THINK ABOUT IT EVERY NIGHT AND DAY!

 ** _AND I ENJOY BURNING BALES OF HAY!_**

I BELIEVE I AM SORE~

 ** _I HAVE BEEN SITTING ON THE WOODEN FLOOR~_**

 _It's a very long hour._

…

After the hour of waiting, Lobster Lord comes in with the busomy 'Mercenary' in attendance, as well as three other attendants. Two of those attendants are armed, as is the Lobster himself.

"I understand that you have attempted to request an audience with our emperor." Lobster Lord says without preamble. "I would like to know why."

Oh, so they do have some. "I'm a businessman." I shrug. "And I like to be polite." By 'some' I mean a form of fast long-range communication. It's been six hours or so since I've left Shirasagi, and I'm pretty sure it takes longer than that to ride from the capital to Izumo.

"A mere merchant has no place in the halls of Shirasagi, unless otherwise summoned." Lord Lobster says with all the tones of reciting a lesson he's learned. "Do you have something of substance that would merit that kind of attention?" Despite the very…holier-than-thou tone, his eyes are shining in a very Nowi-like way.

 _Which means…?_

That he's deeply curious and _loves_ playing with new things.

 ** _Boys will be boys._**

And we love our toys…well then. "I can't say if I do." I grin (mischievously, I hope) and toss over a small gift. It's an electricity-based dragonstone, palm-sized. Apart from the fact that it's extremely dense with magical power there's nothing unusual about it.

Lord Lobster palms it and his eyes widen. I do believe I have made an impression.

"I am Lord Ryoma, crown prince of Hoshido." Lord Lobster introduces himself. "I see you're no mere merchant, if you have something like this in your possession."

My grin isn't going anywhere. "I am a lot of things, but most importantly, I pursue opportunity." I lean forward. "Now then, shall you listen to what I have to offer?"

Lord Lob-er, Ryoma-glances at the gem in his hand, nods, and then sits down.

...

[3rd Person Camera]

…

Ryoma leans back with a sigh after a two-hour discussion that ultimately went nowhere. Ash, more than just a little annoyed, abruptly stands to his feet.

"Thank you for your time." He says in a rather wooden tone. "I hope that you'll be more willing to do business with us in the future."

"Indeed." Ryoma replies as he hurriedly thinks back to his etiquette classes. "Should you find your situation to be more appropriate, please do not hesitate to visit our fair nation again." He then feels a twinge of anger at Ash's barely contained eyeroll.

"I'll keep that in mind." Ash says formally, turns on his heels, then leaves.

"What do you think, Kagero?" Ryoma asks of the 'busomy one' after some time. "Of that man's quality."

"Sir." Kagero salutes. "I find it intriguing that he was able to reach Izumo faster than our carrier birds."

"You as well, I see." Ryoma unclips his horned headgear to scratch his head. "I thought it would have been detrimental to Hoshido to show so much interest in these stones." He puts the electrified dragonstone on the table before him. "Was I wrong?"

"Hardly." Kagero replies with a deferential bow.

Ryoma was unhappy with her response, largely because it sounded rather like flattery. "Saizo?"

"Sir." Saizo appears from his hiding place and drops to one knee in a salute.

"Your thoughts on the merchant?" Ryoma asks.

Saizo briefly thinks back to the moment where he was certain he was going to die. "He is a hawk hiding his talons. Regardless of the words he uses, we should tread carefully around him."

Ryoma blinks in surprise. "He must be rather strong to receive this kind of evaluation from you."

"I beg your forgiveness." Saizo's head drops lower. "I allowed him to shake my concentration."

"Raise your head, Saizo." Ryoma says hurriedly. "I daresay he struck us all by surprise."

Kagero nods. "Indeed." She then blinks quickly. "Forgive me for speaking out of line, but isn't Princess Sakura scheduled to arrive soon?"

"Yes, we should receive her." Ryoma stands. "Thank you for the reminder, Kagero. Let's go."

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

Uh…

 _We, on our brisk walk out of Izumo, encounter a small girl with a head of creamy peachy colored hair and a rather large forehead._

It's a bit rude of me to say so, yes, but she _is_ blocking my way while waving around a wooden sword in a rather dangerous-looking fashion. She's also a small child and is like, in the single digits of age, probably.

"I am the great Kazahana!" the little girl says proudly while her father(probably) looks on with a slight shake of his head. "And I challenge you to a duel!" She points her finger at me.

Again, "Um?" Is this because I look vaguely like I know how to swing a sword?

"Hana, Hana, don't point to people like that." Her red-peachy haired friend says with a soft tug on her sleeve. She's the shy one, I suppose.

"But he's strong!" Hana(Kazahana?) replies. "I wanna fight him!"

Ok, but I don't want to fight you.

She charges at me with a "Have at thee!"

Oh my god you little twerp if your father wasn't in attendance I'd boot you over the wall

 _There is roughly twenty feet of charging distance between us, and she's actually covering it rather quickly._

"Hana!" Her father barks as she raises her sword to attack. "That's enough!"

 _Hana, being, like, 7, isn't all that good at stopping a full speed charge._

She follows through her attack, but she's a small child so it's not hard to parry the strike. With a sharp tug, we take the wooden sword from her hands and make sure her feet are firmly planted on the ground. She glowers at us before turning to her father with a vaguely guilty look on her face.

"A Samurai does not attack a civilian." Her dad says sharply. Also I'm fairly certain that Samurai actually did that. "Apologize to that man. Now."

"Sorry." Hana's not sorry. She pouts.

"Apology accepted." I pat her head. "I'm sure you'll grow up to be a splendid Samurai in the future."

Hana giggles and…daydreams, I guess. I give the sword back now that things are less dangerous.

"Hello." Her redder-haired friend says with a polite bow. "I am Sakura, the second princess of Hoshido. I hope we're not causing you trouble."

She's so cute~ "Oh, no, hardly. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, princess." I bow in return because she's just soo cute~~

If she got together with my girls then the cuteness would cause the world to explode.

"Ah! I'm sorry." Sakura apologizes (and bows) again. "I'm late for my meeting with my brother, so please excuse me."

"I know the way!" Hana raises her wooden sword into the air. "Let's go!" She leads her best friend (I guess) by the arm and the two of them charge towards Izumo castle.

"My goodness, she's a handful." Hana's father chuckles. "No wonder Muki wanted the day off." He gives me a polite bow and follows the two kids.

 _Muki?_

Sounds like a pet name for his wife.

 ** _Note how he never spoke to you directly._**

Given the society I'm not surprised (in retrospect).

…

…

Over the next week I continue to make no progress with Hoshido and make oodles of progress with Nohr. To put it simply, the vast majority of our exports is foodstuffs (the exports we're willing to export anyways) and Nohr _desperately_ need foodstuffs. Utilitarian culture is nice, but sitting on the cusp of starvation is not. This is also why Hoshido isn't cooperating: they don't need to buy our food, and they're worried that we're going to sell the food we buy from them to Nohr (spoilers: that's exactly what I planned to do).

But at the end of the day, Nohr gave me the rights to do business with the city of Nestra "as I pleased."

…given that Nestra is technically a city-state, this tells you a lot about their relationship. That said, free city.

…But that means I'm going to have to start devoting resources _here,_ too…on the plus side, Elibe is doing ok (or at least Nino says they're doing ok) so I can stop rushing development there and move the stuff here.

Hmm.

 _What is going on with the rest of the world, anyway?_

Ah, yeah, that.

[Magvel]

The continent that houses (will house) our capital is still a murderous hellhole. But it's a hellhole…with potential. With the removal of Fomortiis the demons roaming the continent are more hostile and random than they were—or as far as we could see from our observations. This means that attacks on our advance teams and our defense teams are more frequent, but are not as coordinated.

They just charge. All they do is charge. All day, every day.

In other good news, the rest of the continent was less of a genocided wasteland than I had previously believed…for two reasons.

One: Humans tend to be a hardy race, and, this being Fire Emblem, means that handfuls of humans, guarded by some 20/20 Promoted Badasses, can survive so long as said Badasses are being provided with weapons. This means that, for the last two months of the timeframe, Nah and the Firebrand were running near constant rescue missions along with our first airborne carrier, the Avenger.

 _More XCOM names._

Hey, I gotta keep that naming scheme consistent.

The Avenger is a pretty simple thing. It's basically the gutted hull of a second Firebrand that holds a squadron of eight Elite Griffon Knights (plus their Cruise Engines). This way, the Firebrand can have on-hand aerial support while going in and coming out to guard against errant flying eyeballs and gargoyles. The Avenger also has a set of massive wings to give it high altitude loitering ability so its fighter complement isn't also worried about having to defend it while on missions.

…It is a little sad that the hold for the Firebrand, which can carry upwards of twenty people if they squeeze, is never filled to capacity with each rescue. Over those two months we've rescued maybe 400 humans in 90 missions.

Two: Whether if it's because some dudes/ladies were _really_ into experimenting, or if it's because of some magic based mutation, Magvel has hybrid creatures that are not into the whole "fuck humanity" thing.

…or maybe they are, but just…y'know, in a porny and not deadly way.

We first found out when a group of centaurs were being chased by a group of…evil…centaurs…I don't remember what their names are.

 _Tarvos._

Anyways, aerial scouts observed the centaurs exercising tactics and strategy against an opponent that's basically rushing, so the detachment went down and helped out. We kept finding groups of these…hybrids? Afterwards, and some of them are playing ball, and so they get to migrate to our developing capital.

We have roughly 1000 hybrids at the end of this timeframe, comprising of: centaur, lamia, and wee-bit dogfolk (humans with vaguely lupine features like bigger canines, fluffy pointy ears, and a general anime cuteness). Combined with our human population of about 500, our capital has a population of 1500…plus military personnel of about 5000 or so.

[Our Capital]

The entirety of the continent, save for the areas we have secured, is infested with Demons. Our current security zone extends some fifty miles from our landing point, and the city itself is being planned very close to where Castle Frelia once stood.

We do, however, need two docks. The one that we're using right now (the First dock) is great for fishing and for smaller boats (and is extremely easy to defend), but it's not deep enough for our bigger ships, of which we have quite a few. So a secondary dock is needed in deeper waters. The nearest site has a bit of distance between it and the city proper, so…that's a thing, I guess.

It does mean we can separate the military compound from the civilian side of life in the future, so that's…good. Or something.

 _How is our front line defended?_

Well, our Destroyers are patrolling the water along with smaller Corvettes against roaming Gargoyles and Eyeballs, and our moving front line on the ground is helping to keep the Frelian peninsula safe.

The Destroyers are bog-standard Phoenix Destroyers: steel hulls, very fast, big main gun, lots of smaller guns. The Corvettes just have the smaller AA guns, but they do good work for their price as far as defending against soft fleshy flying targets is concerned.

The land units are comprised of ground troops centralized around moveable armored hardpoints. You can visualize those hardpoints as a series of moving towers manned by large amounts of crew. Each one of these hardpoints has a crew by about fifty people (ten Phoenix and forty mercenaries). Their job is, in effect, to hold a circular area of around five hundred meters around itself.

…In theory. The towers are deployed as they are being built, and each one is stationed at most a hundred meters from each other. The reason why we have such a…point-defense kind of wall is because the Demons have no sense of 'breaching' a line, and will focus on the hardpoints whenever the opportunity arises.

The hardpoints are, of course, armored to hell and back. Each point has multiple turrets, secondary fallback positions, tertiary fallback positions, and an armory with entirely too many rifles. So far none of the deployed towers have needed to use their fallback positions, and we're tallying somewhere around a thousand kills per week. They're quite busy.

In other news, actual construction—even with Pibbles—is going slowly. Pibbles, despite being Amazing At Everything, works best with materials that has been processed or is mostly processed. Magvel is…kind of short on those things. So we need some people to excavate some mines, set up smelters, and so on.

(Yes we can use Pibbles to build those mines, but it takes too long compared to just getting a bunch of guys with pickaxes to do the crude labor first).

Overall we haven't seen any serious problems, and the land around ex-Frelia is arable enough to let the Capital be self-sustaining and then some. So apart from the threat of being overrun by entirely way too many Demons, things are going great.

…Except for the part where there's a forest that we have to clear at some point, and that forest apparently has mutated flying giant spiders the size of horses. We can't just burn it all down because it's too big and wet, so…yeah.

I mean like the air force has instituted a "no flying below 500 feet over that forest" operations mandate because the giant spiders keep jumping up and roping our Pegasus Knights with webs. The Cruise Engines are refined enough by now (thank you DAE) to keep the girls flying even when they have a spider tethered, but it's overall just not a pleasant experience when you see a spider crawl towards you with purpose.

Fuck giant spiders, is the point I'm making.

…

[Elibe]

…

So as we all know (or will know in about a line or so), Nino is the commander in our Elibe branch's establishment, Traesto. All news is thus filtered through her (or, more often than not, an aide).

We also have a base on the Dread Isle, but that's…basically a wooden sign staked into the ground. We don't have the spare resources or manpower to start building that yet, nor do we really need to. There's a Pibbles team on site doing shit, but they don't really have a timetable set up.

Anyway…Elibe is quiet for the most part. As per the norm of basically Every Fire Emblem Nation Ever, bandits are everywhere and getting squashed everywhere. The space around Traesto is peaceful, largely because we can send out really fast aerial patrols that…y'know, can do pylon turns over an area and smush everything in a large radius.

Politically speaking, Bern's prince has been…especially…insistent, that his sister winter at Traesto. His sister being little Guinevere, who's like…small, at this time. I don't remember how old she is during the events of FE7, but she was a little girl. Either way, the reports suggest that there's some serious political turmoil going on in Bern. With that in mind, it's not hard to see why Zephiel wants his precious little sister to get the hell out of Dodge.

I know the transition between FE7 and 6 well enough to know that the tensions mounting is a sign of bad things to come. There exist two factions in Bern, more or less: the King's faction and the Prince's faction, and one of the heads do not like the other. Regardless of how that resolves, we're not in the position to really influence Bern's events without alienating someone, and for now that's not a pleasant option. The best we can do, thus, is to just cross our fingers and hope.

Current Wars:

Some Etruria City vs Some Etruria City (x10)—There are a fair number of localized, "you stole my horse" kind of skirmishes going on in Etruria. I don't know a lot about it beyond the news that filtered through the trading caravans.

Lycia Laos vs Lycia Santacruz—Same deal, though I think there is annexation in the cards. Hector's sitting back because Laos has a valid casus belli that's actually pretty old.

 _And this is supposed to be calm?_

Compared to the world-ending nightmare that is literally every Fire Emblem game? Yeah.

…

[Jugdral]

Tribal warfare hasn't ended. Each tribe (and there are hundreds) lay claim to an ancient hero, regardless of how truthful it may be.

Our presence on the island is more or less minimal, largely because those are my orders. Our trade post is reasonably well guarded and our dispatches are done with just air patrols, so the cost of the area is pretty low overall. There's a little bit of trade between our post and some surrounding villages, and they're basically using that trade as a buffer to help them raid better.

There's…nothing we can do about it. Officially, there is nothing we can do about it.

Unofficially, I would rather not do something about it, largely because it's basically political feature creep, and would lead to other groups asking for protection…which we _can_ do, but I just don't want to. If I'm going to move in Jugdral then I imagine I will be doing something substantial like taking over the entire continent, so until I actually have a plan for consolidating any territories we take we're not going to do anything.

Current Wars:

Everyone vs Everyone, because apparently that's how Jugdral rolls.

…

[Tellius]

…

Current Wars: None! (That we know of).

Tiki's still scoping out the continent. Our previous deals for trade posts fell through when the other party reneged, and I'm not really going to push my luck at this early hour. To that end, Tiki's floating around the cities, listening for any merchant towns that could use a little extra boost…or else a lord willing to sell off some of his land.

…Though to be honest she's just having a blast touring the place, and I'm not really in any hurry to expand further given our manpower troubles, especially considering how I've just devoted what we've got left to Nestra.

 _By herself?_

No, with Robin and our kids. They're a bit young for a political tour (7, 4 and 3.5 respectively) but it's our unanimous decision that they see and interact with the world so they don't do the whole "oh no I can't control my power and shittons of people are dead" thing. Sadly, the youngest (6 months old) can't go, because she won't stop puking fire. Nagi's going nuts dealing with it.

Nagi's basically Tiki's…older sister/caretaker/mother-figure-of-a-sort. She's your Replacement Tiki in the DS games if Tiki gets offed there. Here she's our Dragon Nanny, given her experience of taking care of Tiki for the past few hundred years.

 _And the kids are…_

[Our Children]

Morgan (7, Robin's boy), Tenia (4, Tiki's girl), Alicia (3.5, Tiki's girl), and Lux (0.5, Robin's girl). Tenia and Alicia look like baby Tikis and they are the cutest things. They also hatched from eggs, which was kinda weird.

 _What?_

Yeah, Tiki transformed into her dragon form towards the end of her pregnancy (which lasted 14 months) and laid a clutch of six eggs. Four of them were apparently explosive? Because Tiki told us to chuck those as far as we could (they blew up mid-flight). The other two hatched six months apart from each other.

Manakete reproduction is weird.

Lux is obviously the youngest, and she's the one that inherited from me the most (from a magic-power perspective). To that end, I have a soft spot for her.

Alicia is, so far, the calmest. She's very kind and loves working with her hands. She also tends to cry a lot because she would get too excited and burn the things in her hands with her flames. She loves small animals and we…uh…keep her under very close supervision when she plays with those small animals.

Tenia was…born? Hatched? With a defect. Her dragonstone never formed properly in her egg, so it's scattered within her body. She'll never be able to transform as a Manakete, but she basically has almost all of her Manakete powers without transforming. For obvious reasons, this will cause problems if she doesn't learn how to properly manage her own strength. Currently she's carrying around a synthesized Dragonstone to help keep things in check.

Morgan is, obviously, Morgan. He's my (only) boy and so I…am torn between wanting him to grow up as a badass, and wanting him to grow up normal. He himself is tilting towards badass, though…his sisters are all stronger than him by a wide mile, which he finds annoying.

I'll talk more about my kids at length when the time is appropriate for it, just for now know that they are the cutest things in the world and I will _fucking shank you_ if you disagree.

…

Anyhoo, I guess this means we'll have to do work on Nestra first, eh?

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

Ash's reaction to Ryoma is 100% what I thought he looked like the first time I saw him. And then he kicked my ass with the Raijinto and I learned to respect despite the species differences. And then he offed himself at the end of the Conquest storyline and I rolled my eyes.

LET MY CHARACTER MAKE SOME HARD DECISIONS GODDAMMIT

 _It's been years since you actually played the game._

I'm still bitter.


	5. Part 3: Nestra

{ === + === }

Nestra woke up to some worrying news. "They did _what?_ " was the general format of the question being asked around the city as information slowly filtered out of the mayor's office. As the people outside talked in hushed tones, the people inside said office had the unenviable task of figuring out exactly what to do about all of this.

"How _dare_ they!" Minor Noble A growls and pounds his fist on the mayor's table. "This is completely out of line!"

"Yes, but it is the reality." Nestra Mayor sighs and wipes off the specks of tea that splashed from his mug. "Let's talk about concrete things rather than merely show disapproval."

"How much do we know about this Phoenix Empire?" Minor Noble B asks the gathering of half a dozen people. "I've never heard of them before."

"Same for all of us." Minor Noble C nods. "But if Garon sold our rights to this empire, then it stands to reason that they're at least reasonably powerful."

Minor Noble D crosses her arms. "My informants in Windmire claims that they are a nation focused on trade and commerce, and that their representative seems to hold some great power."

Minor Noble A didn't care for the details. "Powerful or not, Nohr still trampled on our sovereignty by assigning a governor to this city. That cannot do."

M-Noble C laughs. "You say that, and yet…"

"I know." M-Noble A sighs. "It's not the first time, it's not the last, blah blah blah." He looks to the mayor. "What should we do if this ends up being as bad as the last one they tried?"

The mayor scowls. Assigning Nestra to the Phoenix Empire wasn't the first time Nohr had tried to pawn off the city in order to let someone else resolve its problems. The last time, sadly, resulted in a multitude of bandit raids and a provincial-wide crisis that took the might of the Nohr military to quell. That was 20 years ago, and the city was (arguably) still suffering from the aftereffects.

"Rouse the militia." The Mayor says after a moment of consideration. "If things go wrong, then at least we're going to make them bleed for every coin they take."

"Coin with our blood on it, sure." The Guard Captain grumbles under her breath. "We have two hundred at a maximum, only spears, and no armor. This'll go great." She salutes and takes his leave.

"Can't be worse than the last time." M-Noble B says and makes his exit as well.

…

Despite their reservations, the militia was roused and quickly brought to the closest thing they can get into combat readiness, and on the day of the supposed arrival of the Phoenix Empire, they were mustered and made to garrison the docks.

The army of two hundred men and roughly twenty unarmed nobles watch as the ship flying the flag of the Phoenix Empire pulls up to their docks. 'The ship' being a bog-standard Phoenix Cruiser that nevertheless dwarfed every other vessel in the Nestrian port.

"Hooly shit." The Guard Captain whistles as the ship drops anchor. "This is…a lot bigger than I thought it would be." She eyes the strangely menacing tubes bristling from the ship in various positions. "Are those weapons?"

"If they are, then we should thank our lucky stars they haven't used them." The Mayor says. "Now stand straight, we're going to present a nice image to our new overlords before we overthrow them."

The metal gangplank extends from below the ship's deck, and after a fashion a party of twelve people or so descends onto the docks.

The Guard Captain quickly takes stock of the new arrivals. _Six nobles, two guards, and four servants?_ She frowns. The nobles and guards she could guess, since the strange design of their clothing seemed to match what was expected of a noble or a guard. The four 'servants' were dressed in shirts that seemed to reflect light, with this strange piece of fabric down the middle. They were much too well dressed to be servants, but…servants nevertheless, because she's pretty sure she's seen Butlers dress similarly…

"Who's in charge here?" The leader of the expedition asks gruffly. He has a scar over one of his eyes, and he was dressed in a crisp black suit/pants combo complete with a pair of ominous looking sunglasses.

"That would be me." The Mayor steps forward with a polite, if stiff, bow. "I, as the mayor of Nestra, proudly welcome you to our fine city."

"This place is a shithole." One of the Phoenix guards whisper. "No wonder Nohr's King wanted to get rid of it." Her whisper was, of course, not nearly soft enough to be missed by anyone.

The Guard Captain notices that the two Phoenix escorts were neatly dressed in cream white clothing that could have been thick dresses. They did not seem to be armored or armed. _Must be honor guards._ She reasons as she sees a bladeless hilt at their waist. _Weird honor guards._

The Mayor chooses to gloss over the guard's slight. "I understand that you have been assigned with the task of managing this city." He says graciously.

"That's right, though I'm just here to lay the groundwork." The man shrugs. "These guys will be responsible for the day to day operations of the city." He gestures to the five people behind him.

"I see." The mayor feels like he's being replaced, but turns to one of the five anyway. "What will you have as our first task?" He asks with all the tone of picking a fight, though he is a bit cowed by his opponent.

His opponent, also decked out in a black suit and sunglasses, takes out a clipboard. "There's a lot of things we could do, and some of this list imagined Nestra to be in a rather different state of being." He says indifferently, tearing out a few pages on said clipboard. "We'll conduct a census first and foremost."

The mayor frowns as more men descend the ship's gangplank. These were comparatively better armed and armored. "A census?"

"First we'll need to draw a map." The man says. "After that, we'll send groups out to canvas the city. At that time, we'll need each and every citizen to declare their personal and household belongings." He writes something on his clipboard. "I imagine that much of Nestra will need to be rebuilt to bring it up to the standards as set by the Phoenix Empire."

To the mayor, this sounded an awful lot like a prelude to more taxes, which was what every previous governor sent by Nohr tried to do. "And if we refuse?" He says dangerously.

The man didn't seem to care. "Then be prepared for the consequences." He shrugs.

That was too much for one of the gathered militiamen. "We're not gonna be bossed around by you people." He snarls. "What gives you the right to just come in here and do whatever you want?!" The other militia around him murmur in agreement.

Instantly, the terrifying-looking leader of the Phoenix group crossed the distance between himself and the upstart militiaman, grabbed him by the cuff of his neck, and tossed him away from the rest of the impending mob.

Given that he just one-handedly tossed a fully-grown man something like twenty feet, none of the mob were immediately interested in jumping to the Upstart's defense.

The terrifying leader now rounds on the Upstart, who suddenly found himself trapped in the middle of a hostile (and certainly armed) group. "Would you like to repeat that?" The Leader grins at the Upstart.

Upstart looks at his current position of being surrounded by potential enemies, then shakes his head nervously.

"I thought so." The Leader gives the man a disdaining look. "I understand if you have problems with how we do things. Just know that we're not going to screw with you if you don't fuck with us." He says with a glare to the city militia, which shudders as a group. "Get violent, and things'll get real nasty, real quick. Understand?"

There was no response from the peanut gallery.

"Good. Go home." The Leader says gruffly, inwardly very happy that he didn't have to do anything.

…

The news that the newcomers were asking everyone to go over their own belongings was, predictably, not met with enthusiasm. Previous Nohrian Governors did much of the same, believing that a stronger tax law would give Nestra the funding it needed to fix the problems that it had.

Still, out of fear of this Phoenix Company, the poor families of the city did as they were told, and awaited the visit of the black-suited Phoenix workers. A few families dared to believe that the Phoenix would not impose a new tax, since they didn't mention one.

At the beginning of the subsequent week, the actual meetings started. One Phoenix worker (let's call him Dave) walks through the deserted cobblestone streets and towards one of the few homes that had people. He knocks on the door. Moments later, a wary-looking farmer cracks open the door and throws the man a fearful glare.

"Hello." Dave says politely and professionally. "I assume you know why I am here." He takes out a clipboard from his belt.

"Yeah." The farmer glances down at the weapon remaining on Dave's belt. "…Come in." He says after weighing his options, opening the door properly.

Dave steps into the shabby house and waits for his eyes to adjust. _Interior lighting._ He makes a note in his head. "Ok, let's see…" He locks eyes with the other members of the house—the Farmer's wife and their two children—and gives a tiny bow. "Good morning."

The younger child hides behind her mother, terrified.

Dave shrugs in his mind and goes about his business. As the family watches, he pokes around the house and takes stock of what they have. It wasn't much. _I guess I know what we're doing first._ He thinks before addressing the family again. "Ok. Do you have anything else you would like to declare as your property?"

"No, this is all we have." The Farmer says as his wife makes a rather suspicious looking move.

"I will ask you again, and I would like to remind you that any items that you do not claim as a part of your property will be subject to seizure by the state." Dave says with a concealed sigh. "Do you have anything else you would like to declare as your property?"

The Farmer and the Wife give each other a look. The Wife reveals the item she was attempting to hide: a crude-looking silver locket. "It belongs to me." She says fearfully.

"Look—" The Farmer begins to say, to try and maybe salvage the situation. Dave, however, just holds up a hand before writing his findings onto the papers of his clipboard.

"I am not the court of law." Dave says with finality. "I am just here to assess what you have." He takes the weapon from his belt, making the two adults flinch, before pressing a button on said weapon.

The weapon (basically a ticket printer) prints out a ticket with the Farmer's name and a series of numbers, much to his surprise. Dave tickets the printed ticket and hands it to the Farmer, who accepts it with confusion.

"You'll know what it's for when the time comes." Dave says. "Don't worry. We work with the will of the Emperor, and he will not abandon you." He gives the two villagers a small bow and then turns to leave.

Their nerves shot, the Farmer and his family takes lunch—their usual fair of a thin soup—and take the rest of the day to relax as much as they are able.

Over the rest of the afternoon, similar scenes play out all over Nestra. Predictably, the citizens of the city don't trust the black-suited men any more than they did at the beginning of the day. Most of them do note, however, that the black-suits did not take anything of value, and some of them were a little bit reassured by that realization.

…

[Three days later]

…

The Farmer, sitting on the outside of an inn run by a friend, heard someone be extremely loud somewhere.

"What the hell?" He says, understandably. He and his three buddies pack up their cards and rise to take a look.

They find, to their surprise, the biggest noble in Nestra thrown unceremoniously out of his house. Though never truly wealthy, Nestra did once have nobility that enjoyed a reasonably high standard of living. When Nestra declined, most of those Nobles declined along with the city. This one was not one of them (or at least, he did not go quietly), and he made it his life's mission to accrue whatever wealth he could. The Noble in question also spent much of his wealth making sure that his estate was protected by the best mercenaries money could buy.

Which was why the Farmer was now very confused as to why the Noble seemed to have been rejected by the very men he once employed. His confusion was answered a mere moment later, when the scary-looking Phoenix Leader strode out of the Noble's house with the air of owning the place.

"What is the meaning of this?!" The Noble demands, scrambling to his feet and pulling his knife. "How dare you, you miserable lowlife!"

"Hah?" The Scary-Looking Man didn't seem to care. "We're following the rules, you dumbass." He says with a disdainful glare that all in attendance could feel. "You said to the auditors yourself: 'this house doesn't belong to me.'" He smirks.

The Noble had, of course, been lying. He's done this before with the previous governors: he lies about his personal wealth, allowing himself to get into a lower tax bracket (to the tune of no taxes at all most of the time) in exchange for later favors offered to the governors that arrived, usually to the tune of housing at his estate.

…Which meant that, yes, he lied about the ownership of his estate. Unfortunately for him, every one of the Black Suits sent by the Phoenix Company were, in some fashion, experienced with financial law and the skullduggery that surround something like this. The Black Suit sent to The Noble was thus the most experienced agent in the field, owing to Literally Everybody understanding that The Noble was likely going to try something shady.

"You don't like it? Fine." The Scary-Looking Man gave a Scary-Looking Grin. "You can come with us back to the ship and plead your case there."

"Damn straight I will." The Noble growled, figuring that he could at least bribe the judge.

…

[Next Day]

…

He could not bribe the judge.

In fact, to his own surprise, he had disclosed the fact that he tried to bribe the judge but failed. Hell, while standing within the small, ad-hoc courtroom aboard the Phoenix's ship, he had disclosed everything, including the fact that he had intended to lie about his wealth in order to get a better deal on taxes. Within that room, he was uncharacteristically truthful.

Which, of course, got his case dismissed and him exiled, allow him to flee to the nearby city-state of Cheve where his brother lives, free to plan for the day where he will eventually regain his wealth and prestige.

Within Nestra, nobody cared about him. In fact, the heartless disenfranchisement of the richest man in Nestra through the court of law helped give the Black Suits more legitimacy when they declared that they're not here for taxes. While still disliked, the population of Nestra now recognized that the Phoenix, regardless of their reasoning, were at least fair in their dealings, and in return was slightly more acceptive of the Suits' jobs. Most people as a result stopped sharpening their forks as a 'just in case' kind of thing.

…

[Start of the Following Week]

…

A few things happened in very quick succession.

One: a pair of ships docked into Nestra's otherwise skeletal port during the morning, shocking whatever dock workers were present into silence. Sometime afterwards, they would note that the two ships seemed to lack the same compliment of weird tubing as the first ship, and held greater complements of simple, normal workers than the first ship.

The insides of the ships were also apparently designed to be empty, as the front of the ships opened to reveal a line of massive horseless carriages packed to the brim with boxes and sacks. As the workers watched, the wagons—lacking horses—drove themselves to the docks, where the Phoenix Leader talked into his own hand (which he held to his ear) in order to direct these wagons into the streets.

The workers eventually noticed that the wagons had people riding in them, and that they were stopping at the houses previously visited by the Black Suits in order to distribute boxes. And then they noticed a gaggle of eerily similar sounding Pegasus Knight sisters were flying over the sky, constantly repeating the same message.

"All citizens of Nestra are to return to their homes." The loudspeakers carried by the Pegasus Knights broadcast its prerecorded message. "And have your citizenship tickets ready at all times."

"Think you know what this is about?" The Farmer's next-door neighbor (kinda) asks, as the two prepare to kind of, sort of follow the orders. "Think they're going to do a 'reassessment' of our wealth?" He grins like he's sharing an in-joke.

"Probably not." The Farmer says earnestly. "These Phoenix folk have been good to us so far."

The Neighbor rolls his eyes. "Leaving us alone to our own devices isn't really 'good'. Remember when you said that the last time?"

The Farmer winces. "I'm keeping that in mind."

"Nevermind all that talk for now." The Farmer's wife says. "Tair, are you staying for lunch?" She sets the table as the two kids hurriedly sit themselves down.

"I can't possibly." The Neighbor replies with a quick and firm shake of his head. "Your kids are growing, after all."

The Farmer nods. "How is Scarlet?"

The Neighbor shrugs. "If everything went well, she'll be in Cheve before tonight."

Any further discussion was stopped by a knock at their front door.

"Well, shit." The Neighbor growls. "Should I hide?"

"Better not." The Farmer says as he walks to the door. "These people seem like they respect fair play, at least." He opens the door to find two Black Suits.

"Hello." Black Suit A (redhead in front) says politely. "lovely day today."

"Yes, indeed." The Farmer replies stiffly. "Please come in." He says, slowly opening his door.

"Your hospitality is appreciated." Black Suit A replies with a small bow and steps into the house. "I would like to see your card, please."

"O-of course." The Farmer's wife says and hastily presents the card given to their household last week. The Neighbor just stands kind of awkwardly, not sure of what he should be doing.

Black Suit B (black hair, stocky build, terrifying to behold) take the card and reads it quickly. "Who's your visitor?" He asks.

"I'm, uh, I'm a family friend." The Neighbor says nervously. "I live next door."

Black Suit B nods. "Ok." He steps out for a second and calls out to a pair of workers. "Bring it in!"

"We're not scary. Promise." Black Suit A says to the two children trying to shrink into their seats.

"No offense, but we haven't had the best experience with outsiders." The Neighbor says, still a bit nervous.

Black Suit A nods. "I'm aware." He steps aside.

A large metallic box (cubic meter size) is wheeled into the house, mysteriously fitting through the definitely-not-meter-wide doorway. "Here you go." Says the worker behind the box. He then walks to the front and opens the box's double-sided door.

The civilians then watch in confusion as the two Black Suits help the worker unload the box's contents of sacks and smaller boxes.

"Um." The Farmer says.

"This is for your family of four." Black Suit B says as the last sack is unloaded. "It'll last you for this month and the next. We'll have an office near the docks set up, so come down there with your card when this runs out."

The three Phoenix workers give another quick bow and quickly wheel their magic box out of the house. They have a schedule to keep, after all. They close the door behind them and move on to their next house.

"So…" The Neighbor says after the workers were gone for a full minute. He, ever the curious type, takes the initiative of edging closer to the batch of sacks and boxes. Seeing that the boxes did not do anything but continue to be boxes, he reaches out to one of them, cracks open the top, then sticks his arm in.

"What the hell?" He says as he pulls out an apple. This prompts him to look into the box (which, let's be honest, he should have done before putting a hand into a box of otherwise unknown content). "This is full of fruit." He says. He takes the box from its stack and gently set it on the floor.

"This one has a lot of fish." He says, moving the box aside. "This one has chicken."

"So it's all food?" The Farmer blinks, his mind not quite catching up with reality.

"I would guess so." The Neighbor says and opens one of the sacks. "Yep, this is grain." He steps back. "Enough food to last for a month and a half, huh?" He grins. "I like these guys." He then realizes what's about to happen. "I've gotta get home." He says quickly. "It's been nice!"

…

[1st Person Camera Interlude]

…

 _So…_

It should be pretty obvious, but the purpose of the economic survey is to make sure we know what kind of resources we're going to need to pour into Nestra in order to make it serviceable for the future.

Obviously, food is the primary factor. The plan to revitalize the city comes in multiple steps, but the first one has to ensure that the local populace is well fed. To that end, I sent Brady to head a task force on assessing the local population wealth and economic strength. I heard they tossed out a local noble for trying to fuck with the rules, but that's how that goes.

Anyhoo, following the assessment we sent in a cargo ship of foodstuffs of all kinds (gotta keep that vitamin count up). This should ensure that the city's populace become more acceptive of our upcoming projects. Namely…

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

"We need to rebuild the city from the ground up."

The scary man (Brady) looks up at the civil engineer. "Excuse me?" His team was congregated around a large table. On the table was a piecemeal map made of the pictures taken by the Pegasus Knights over the past two weeks.

The initial food distribution had gone well, and their extremely brazen response when confronted had gone even better.

 _A group of people were like "you're just doing this to get on our good side" and the Phoenix people were like "no shit sherlock we don't need corpses" and the group of people had no immediate retort._

"Look here." The Engineer taps one of the pictures depicting the city's north side. "The entire area is a godawful slum." He moves the picture over to reveal one of a nearby (if blurrier) zone. "This portion is completely deserted."

"Can we do it?" Brady asks first. "In a neat timeline."

"If we get one of the ruling folk to nuke the area, sure." The Engineer says. "We could also use Pibbles to reclaim and reuse the construction material."

Brady strokes his chin. "If you had everything you wanted for the rebuild effort, how would you do it?" He asks to gauge the depth of the problem.

The Engineer grins. "I'd demolish everything in a mile circle around Nestra and rebuild it brick by brick."

Brady whistles. "That bad?" The Engineer nods. "Damn. Alright, write it up and we'll see if we can get the boss to divert some stuff our way." He turns to another engineer. "How's the land?"

The sovereign territory around Nestra extended out roughly thirty miles from its walls.

"As briefed, it's full of 'magic'." The Agricultural Engineer says, complete with air quotes. "The watershed's also a mess, and groundwater is near nonexistent…no wonder they've had issues trying to grow wheat here." She scoffs.

Brady had just one question. "Can we?"

"Not wheat, but we have plants that will thrive here." The AG Engineer nods. "it'll take a bit of restructuring and some clever digging, but I think we can run enough water into the system with Pibbles so that we can grow some interesting things here."

"Ok, good." Brady nods. "Anything else?"

…

[Nohr, at about the same time]

…

To the west of Nohr, the temperature rapidly plummets. It is the territory of the Ice Tribe. The Ice Tribe has, up until recently, been given a high degree of autonomy to operate despite being deep within Nohrian territory. However, the Ice Tribe has, up until this point, found the arrangement to be lacking, and signs of rebellion have begun to ferment.

A Nohiran General by the name of Maximillian (read: NPC) has thus been dispatched at the head of a 500-strong army to quash the rebellion. Accompanying the army are Prince Xander and Princess Camilla, as well as their close retainers and bodyguards.

"How is this place so cold?" Severa gripes as she brushes snow from her head. "Why is this place so cold?"

"Because it's the territory of the ice tribe." Beruka replies tonelessly. The three of them (Severa, Beruka, and Beruka's wyvern) were walking next to each other on the snow covered road.

Severa shivers slightly. "That doesn't even make sense." She vaguely regrets being unable to turn on the heating for her under armor (it would be too strange for her to be the only to not suffer).

"I heard that the Ice Tribe is so named because they can control ice." Inigo says, walking up to her. "It would make sense that they would be able to influence the weather somewhat."

"Well tell them to influence it less." Severa rubs her shoulders. "Cripes." She takes an offered hot water bottle from Inigo and sticks it into her shirt.

Inigo gives her a good-natured pat on her shoulder. "Still, a rebellion crushing being attended to by the Crown Prince?" He looks at Xander riding at the front of the convoy. "Seems like it's too much effort."

"Effort, yes." A nearby unit Captain says. "But effort well rewarded."

Inigo makes a noncommittal noise, and the convoy descends back into miserable silence for another hour. At the end of the hour the convoy enters into the Ice Tribe village, where the streets are totally deserted, save for piles upon piles of snow.

"If this isn't a trap then I don't know what is." Inigo murmurs, picking up on multiple magical signatures inside the many buildings of the village. All of them were a little different than he was used to, which he chalks down to the power that gave these people their Ice-ness.

"Where's the welcoming wagon?" The NPC Captain grouses. "Don't tell me they're actually thinking of rebelling?"

"To be fair, it is quite cold here." A fur-bundled Camilla says cheerily. "If at all possible, I'd like to get some of the Ice Tribe's chilled drinks before we leave."

Xander smirks. "It'd be nice if it were that easy."

"Indeed." General Maximillian nods and draws his sword. "All captains, you know your orders."

Each sub-unit captain salute and disperse into the village. Maximillian's unit of Hero Units make their way to the tribe leader's house.

"Oh my lord it's even colder here." Severa groans as they approach the biggest house. "Why?!"

"The Tribe Leader is the most powerful person, I believe." Maximillian says. "So it stands to reason that this place would be the coldest." He walks up to the house's doors and knocks. "Farrier, it's Max!" He calls out.

The door to the mansion opens after a fashion, and the small group enters the cold but otherwise well-lit mansion.

"First sing of heat I've seen in a while and it's still cold." Severa gripes some more.

"Welcome, Max." Farrier says before clearing his throat. "As the leader of the Ice Tribe, I formally welcome you into my household, General Maximillian." He says formally.

Maximillian follows protocol and bows. "I accept your welcome with grace." He then breaks into a huge grin and gives Farrier a hug, armor and all.

Farrier returns the hug with an equally large grin. "Long time no see, my friend…though I wish it were under better circumstances."

"You and me both." Maximillian nods. "I don't think I need to elaborate on why I am here."

Farrier sighs. "Unfortunately not. Nohr's dealing with Nestra has caused great ripples among my people, and some of them are less than pleased with the way that the Nohrian royal family has treated the city."

Xander clears his throat to get attention. "We had little choice in the matter." He says. "Hopefully, this 'Phoenix Company' will prove to be beneficial to the people of Nestra regardless of the political implications."

"'Political implications' indeed." Farrier nods. "I assume you are aware of the solution that has been imposed upon us?"

Xander squirms. "It is a…better…choice, than to break the rebellion with force." _In the short term._ He adds inwardly.

"Wait, what is he talking about?" Inigo murmurs to Severa. "I don't get to sit in on Xander's meetings."

Severa does get to sit in Camilla's. "Ice Tribe wants to revolt, Windmire wants political hostages in exchange for no killing."

 _Inigo goes "ah" in understanding._

"So…who did you pick?" Maximillian asks Farrier.

"The best bet for this situation." Farrier motions to one of the maids, who curtseys, goes into an adjacent room, then brings two little girls in. Both are dressed in sturdy but simply designed apprentice maid dresses.

"I am the eldest daughter of the Ice Tribe Leader." The bigger little girl with ice-blue hair says with an awkward curtsey. "My name is Flora, and I am at your command."

The bubblegum pink haired smaller girl wave excitedly at the crowd of people. "I'm Felicia. Hello!"

"Your own children." Maximillian frowns. "Farrier, what…"

"I am worried about the more radical elements in the tribe." Farrier lies. "So I want them out of harm's way, and this is…the best way, currently, to do just that. They are both maids in training, and can be safely stowed away from the possible machinations of the court."

"I understand, I think." Maximillian nods with a slight frown. "Prince Xander?" He turns.

"I must admit I was not expecting to capture children." Xander says with a deep scowl. "But I will accede to your judgment." He snaps his fingers. "Laslow."

"Yes, sir." Inigo salutes. "Your orders?"

"Bring the two of them to the safest location you can find, and be discreet." Xander says.

 _In other words, tell no one but the royal family where these two are._ Inigo parses the order. "Understood. Selena, give me a hand."

"Sure." Severa sighs, not liking this any more than he was.

"Are we going on a trip?" Felicia asks with expectant eyes.

"Something like that." Inigo says with a warm smile. "Do you have everything?"

Felicia nods with an enthusiastic "Yes!" and Inigo now notices a small box with what he assumes to be the child's belongings.

"Alright." Inigo doesn't let his smile slip. "It's a little cold out there, do you want a bigger coat?"

"I'm a child of the Ice Tribe!" Felicia says proudly. "A little cold doesn't scare me!"

Flora was more aware of what was going on. "We are not coming home again, are we." She murmurs to Severa as she drags her (slightly larger) box behind her.

Severa gives Flora a pat on her shoulder and takes the box. "Here's to hoping that's not the case." She says.

Xander, with his back turned, did not notice the dagger-like glare fired his way by this small ten year old.

"Please don't tell her the truth." Flora says as she watches Felicia laugh joyfully with Inigo. "Ever."

 _She's way too mature about this._ Severa thinks sadly. "We'll keep it quiet."

The two retainers, along with the two children, bow and leave. Outside the two arranged for two of the force's Malig Knights to take them into the skies. Malig Knights are Wyvern Knights, except their Wyverns are undead, making them immune to flight issues that would arise from all forms of weather except for strong winds.

"That's so weird." Felicia remarks on the Undead Wyvern's glowing eyes. "Why does it glow like that?"

"It's special." Inigo says, not comfortable with what he considers a Risen by another name. "And is definitely faster than walking."

"Cool!" Felicia gets a boost and hops onto the back of the Wyvern with Inigo right behind her.

"Are we really leaving like this?" Flora asks as she gets the same treatment from Severa.

"Considering the kind of thing going on, this is probably for the best." Severa says. "I can't imagine people being too happy with the two of you being taken away as political prisoners."

"I suppose." Flora says sadly, and the two Wyverns take off into the air.

Inigo waits for them to reach a cruising altitude of a mere 200 feet before stealthily switching on his radio. "Now what?" He says.

"Home, we got two little kids here in need of a reassignment." Severa says into her radio.

"Home here, we copy, Luna." An agent manning the Phoenix's Nohr-side Operation Camp says. "Is there anything special we need to do?"

"They're political prisoners, so we need a place that's sufficiently high prestige but also out of the way." Severa replies. "I can always drop them off at the safehouse, but I'm damn sure one of them will pick up on it."

Flora was already picking up on it. She, with her back to Severa, could feel some kind of magical power emanating from Severa and realized that something odd was going on, though had no specifics.

"I've got a place." Owain chips in, doing field work on Leo's whims. "There's this castle north of Windmire that's being kept in reserves, and supposedly a high-ranking noble lives there."

"I've heard of that place." Inigo adds, the description jolting his memory. "Isn't her family like, estranged from the royal family or something?"

"No idea: too many rumors swirling around." Owain replies. "I'll meet you guys there." He taps a special tome strapped close to his chest and, after getting his bearings, dart towards the castle in question at an alarming speed.

"And of course we're just going to go with it." Severa says with an extremely exaggerated eyeroll.

…

The two Wyverns (under Inigo and Severa's direction (from Owain)) find the castle without too much hassle. They land and dismount, also without too much hassle.

Felicia yawns and stretches as she hits the ground. "That was long." She observes of the near two hour flight.

"Given all the terrain we flew over I'm glad we didn't have to walk." Severa says and gives Flora a helping hand. "So this is the place, huh?" She adds as she gives the castle before her an appraising look.

"If Owain didn't call it a castle I'd have just called it a fort." Inigo says. "This place is a bit small, no?"

"I think I prefer 'cozy'." Owain says. "Certainly well suited for living away from the hustle and bustle of urban life!"

"This is our new home, then?" Flora observes.

"What?! We're gonna live here?" Felicia says in total shock. "B-but what about dad?"

"Daddy will be busy for some time." Flora gives her sister a hug. "So let's be good, ok?"

Felicia returns the hug with full enthusiasm. "I don't really get it, but ok!"

"So…who's inside the castle?" Inigo wonders. "Shall we go find out?"

"Friends!" Felicia cheers, the only person in the crowd to do so.

…

The five of them enter the castle and wander its hallways for a few minutes before hearing a girl's voice ringing out along the stone walls.

"Siiiilas!" She shouts. "Siiiiiilaaaaas!"

"That way." Inigo pinpoints the direction (the best he can) and leads the way. After three corners (and more calls from the girl) they nearly run into the owner of the voice. The girl's party involves herself and another boy standing close, but in a rather deferential fashion.

The two parties stare at each other for a moment.

"You're not Silas." The girl says, confused.

 _White hair, red eyes…_ Severa ticks off her checkboxes. _I think we found someone special._ She shares a look with Owain and Inigo, and the three of them come to the same conclusion. "No, we're not." She says. "Can I get your name, little lady?" She asks.

"Corrin." The girl replies. "Can you help me? My friend is somewhere in this castle and I don't know where he is."

Inigo now notes a boy with light blue hair tailing Corrin rather conspicuously and assumes this to be the Silas in question. "Why are you looking for him?" He asks.

"We're playing hide and seek and he's really good at hiding." Corrin says. "I found Jakob already, but I don't know where he is."

 _Jakob?_ Owain focuses his eyes on Corrin's attendant. The boy had white hair but black eyes, so, in other words, not their target. Jakob, incidentally, seemed to be torn between 'letting Corrin look' and 'tell her where Silas was', and the internal struggle was rather fierce.

"I'll help you look!" Felicia volunteers with maximum enthusiasm. "I'm really good at finding people!"

"Yay!" Corrin cheers as Felicia bounces forward. The latch on her box breaks and her belongings (mostly clothes) scatter onto the floor. Felicia doesn't seem to care.

"Oh dear." Inigo sighs and picks up Felicia's spent clothing. Flora and Jakob both give a hand.

"You're going to be apprentice maids, I take it?" Jakob asks severely (for a twelve year old). "While I appreciate the additional help, don't slow me down."

Flora doesn't seem to take kindly to the warning. "What's your problem?" She folds her arms in a huff. "We just got here. The least you can do is to be nice."

"Ah, yes, of course." Jakob agrees but does no such thing. "Welcome to the Northern Fortress, fellow servant."

Flora bristles, and the temperature in the hallway perceptibly drops.

"Enough, Jakob." An older man's voice calls out. The Hero Party turns to see a much older man arrive. He was dressed in a suit of dark Great Knight armor, though it seemed rather out of use and undermaintained. "I thought I had taught you to be polite."

"You did, Sir Gunter." Jakob says with an honestly apologetic tone to his voice. "I am sorry." He bows first to Gunter, and then (with much more reluctance) to Flora. "I did not know your name."

"My name is Flora." Flora introduces herself. "And my sister is Felicia." She curtseys to Gunter. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir…Gunter."

"The pleasure is all mine." Gunter returns the politeness. "And I assume the three of you are the reason for today's sudden visit?" He says, now turning to Inigo, Owain, and Severa.

"Something to that effect." Severa says with a sigh and expositions the problem. Flora and Jakob continue to be rather frosty to each other. Corrin and Felicia continue to look for Silas, with Felicia believing that Corrin is purposefully ignoring Silas (because come on he's _right there_ ) and is playing some more advanced version of hide and seek.

…

[1st Person Camera, 3 Months Later]

…

Hoo boy. A lot of things have happened. Or…not a lot of things. A lot of things in one area, not a lot in another.

So, first off: Nestra.

As you might imagine, following the introduction of food aid to Nestra, the town's nutrition situation improved. We've also reorganized the farmland around the town and put in a sophisticated irrigation/desalinization system with Pibbles. The operation is still being scaled up, but for now there's enough ground and treated water to both serve the entire population of the town and to allow for some planting, which apparently was never the case before.

The civil engineers offered a plan in which the entire area gets levelled and rebuilt from the ground up owing to the need for a city with a way more streamlined internal structure, especially if we were going to use it as a trade hub.

With great reluctance I agreed. We had all of the citizens evacuate the city (with a full week of warning just in case) and then, using the powers of Grima, I flattened the city with the closest thing to a nuke and then let the dust settle where it may.

 _Robin and Tiki helped out by erecting a massive barrier around Nestra so the amount of magic we released did not seep out and terrify anyone else._

I then, again with my godlike powers, laid down the roads by flattening dirt. As far as I'm concerned, making roads is a way better use of my powers…though we still needed human hands (kinda) to lay down the tiles. Our city roads are layered with tiles that provide auto-windshoes for someone who steps onto the tile, for that bit of faster transportation.

After that, we released the Bulldog and construction went up real fast. The city size is not what it used to be (though the walls are slated to be in the same place) but it looks a lot cleaner and happier now.

 _Bulldog?_

Basically a resizable Pibbles. It is also a 3D printer of a sort, but can extend up to a size of ten meters by ten meters. It can build a whole house (albeit a boring one) in about two hours. They're a bitch to build, though, so I only have one of them so far.

Anyways, the city layout has been streamlined, and the people who live in the area are a lot happier (and a lot more aware that I can blow them the fuck up if they myess with me) so everything's coming up roses. The waterways got cleaned up of their trash (after I blew it up) and a sanitation line was installed, so it looks very pretty now. Brady's got some of the Pibbles working around the canals and laying down these silvery-white metal sheets, so during the day the city positively sparkles with water. I mean, yeah, he's got like, ten meters of the material installed so far, but it's still pretty cool.

There's also one area that's surprisingly open, so Brady's figuring that they could build something like an amphitheater that makes good use of Nestra's water in its performances. I don't know how that's gonna work, but it sounds like fun, so I've given him the go-ahead with it. He and his team of architects are still planning it out as of right now, I think.

What else…Nestra's countryside is extremely magically dense and is actually somewhat fertile (irrigation aside) so if we deal with the magic problem we could actually plant a lot of things. Unfortunately we can't deal with the magic problem, so the land is being sparingly used for plants that could weather the kind of saturation inside the soil.

As a side note, the heavy magic saturation means we can make spirit dust at a reduced cost, which means we can make magic items at a low cost in Nestra, so that's another reason for me to invest into the city.

For now we're just making sure that the public understands that we're here to make them financially secure first and foremost. Other plans can come later.

Lessee…

What other things are happening?

…

[Elibe, Jugdral, Magvel]

…

More of the same, really. There's nothing shockingly new that's happening on any of these three continents.

Minor note, I guess?

The DAE, the Department of Angry Engineers, have renamed themselves into the Depart of Angry Engineers and Shit. Abbreviated as DAES, pronounced 'days'. This came after the DEP renamed _themselves_ into the Department of Extremely Enraged Physicists (DEEP).

I don't think I can fully express how few fucks I give concerning their naming wars, especially as they have given us so many gamebreaking breakthroughs.

For example, our first mass-producible fighter/attacker jet—the VF-1 Walkure—has just been given the green light for production, and we have all the equipment to build these babies. Also they're called Walkure because the Valkyrie name is already taken, and I wanted to avoid confusion. Also yes I know the u is technically a special character but fuck typing that shit every single time.

The VF stands for "Variable Fighter". Its engines are similar to the cruise engines in that they can variably switch their orientation of propulsion. Unlike the cruise engines, which does its switch by changing the exit point, the VF engines just flat out switch their orientation like legs. These are derived from the Macross franchise, where they can transform into three different forms, but for us they can only go between 'fighter' to 'fighter/loiterer'.

Each VF-1 comes with a nose mounted high velocity rotary cannon, two wing-mounted 150mm Anti-Material Cannons (Fuck Yeah Magic™) and an array of four chainguns mounted on 'arms' that could be swiveled while it's transformed into its hovering mode. We don't use missiles because there are no opposing aircraft for us to fight.

…In a sense, they're basically the beautiful bastard children between a Harrier, an Eagle, and a Warthog. They would be more useful if we had any pilots, which we don't (not yet) so an accompanying VF-T1 trainer variant is being built. By the end of the year we should have one trainer aircraft and two serviceable combat aircraft.

We also have our Prototype Main Battle Tank that's currently still being designed, but since there's nothing for it to fight (read: other MBTs) we don't really need it.

They also make things that are less visually impressive but have more "holy fucking shit" value, like time-stop refrigerators, cross-lattice personnel armor, centralized heating, heat-seeker enchanted condensers, and indoor plumbing.

…

[Tellius]

…

There's an unclaimed island with a tower off of the coast of Begnion. Tiki has claimed that island in the name of the Phoenix Empire after politely kicking away the pirate organizations basing themselves there. Apparently that tower has some kind of societal significance, but since I have no idea what it is I don't really care. We'll build it up as a tourist trap or something in the distant future.

The claiming of this island is recognized by Begnion since it means we don't need their territory and they get access to our market come the future. I don't have a specific need to go into the Tellius market yet, so this port construction gets lower priority. If this whole Nohr/Hoshido thing didn't happen Tellius would've been the secondary market where we pooled whatever spare resources we had.

…

[Our Primary Mission]

The Nohr strike team of Severa, Inigo, and Owain have managed to find Corrin, one of the two Heroic Albino Children. She seems to be in good health but is otherwise separated (rather heavily) from the rest of the Nohrian court. The Nohr unit has since then been snooping around for information, but what's available is rather sparse.

I will note here that, since Owain got him and his two buddies indicted into royal Nohrian service, I've had to send a _third_ team to work the Nohrian urban areas, since the three of them don't have as much freedom of mobility as they used to. Of note, Prince Leo's retainer, Niles, seems to be aware that the three of them are unusual.

Anyways. What we do know.

Corrin has some kind of nobility, though it's a tossup between "bastard child" and "adopted into family". Few nobles in Windmire know she exists and fewer still know about her social status. She has two loyal servants and two servants-in-name: Squire Silas, Great Knight General (Retired) Gunter, Butler-In-Training Jakob, Maid-In-Training Flora, and Moving-Disaster Felicia. She also has about twenty other servants within the castle, but they perform duties that are independent from the existence of a lord, like maintenance and cooking, for example.

Flora and Felicia are political tokens, but they seem to have settled in. Felicia is, at best, unaware of her situation and just really, _really_ likes Corrin.

Gunter also has a strange magical signature, but none of the three have the training to identify exactly what it is. I've done a fly-by of the castle for the fun of it, and I _think_ it's similar to the signature being emitted by the giant gash in the middle of the sub-continent, but I can't be too sure since the crevasse signature is too faint.

I've also tried flying into the gorge to see if the signature will get any stronger. The gorge bottoms out at roughly 2000 feet or so and is otherwise uninteresting from a magic perspective.

In any event, Corrin seems to be a bit of a ditz. She's…twelve-ish? And likely has lived a largely secluded life. Gunter is likely her tutor, and given that he's a war veteran I assume she's being taught some combat-based stuff.

Nohr and Hoshido have bad blood between each other. I don't remember if I mentioned this before, so I probably have. They might end up into a fight in the future, and I will not be taking sides unless I absolutely have to.

So…yes, we found Corrin. We have not managed to find Kamui, though, and that's a little worrying.

…hang on.

 _We check our notes in-story._

…according to Chrom and Friends, the two children were found running away from something. They returned home after they were safe, but that's not indicative of them being safe in general. Moreover, Kamui knew about the gate closing (or something to that effect) and was responsible for getting Corrin back home to the sub-continent.

It's unclear to me if Corrin was a resident of Nohr at the time that Chrom met her. If she was, then Kamui should also be in Nohr. If not, then Kamui could be anywhere.

…

Well, whatever.

Things are happening, so I'm pretty ok with how things are…uh, happening.

 _Last thing: what's with the Nestrian Noble?_

Oh, the guy that Brady kicked out? I don't remember if I mentioned this (probably have) but the Phoenix's court of law relies on a high magical artifact built by us three heads. While in its presence, you cannot lie.

…

That it? That's it, yeah?

Ok cool.

 _What are we doing at the moment?_

I am trying to stop my children from killing each other. Nagi can only do so much by herself and she's overworked.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

Next – the children visit Nestra!


	6. Part 4: Nestra & Izumo

{ === + === }

[1st Person Camera]

Hello!

It has been precisely eight months since we have established Nestra as the port of call on Nohr. The world has…been plodding along, I guess. Nothing major has happened in the meantime.

Let's quickly go over the state of the world so I can talk about why I'm currently flying towards Izumo.

…

[Phoenix Empire In General]

…

We're getting big. We're still critically short of manpower, but it's gradually transitioning to a need for new minds rather than just new bodies. Our education system is starting to pay off: literacy is going up, graduation rates are up, and citizens who choose to emigrate from our nation are levels ahead of their compatriots. Immigrants are filling the body count for our capital on Magvel. Profits are stagnant, largely because we are both making and spending more money. In general, I think we make have a higher GDP than the entirety of Elibe.

 _Disclaimer: we are not economists and no economists were consulted in the writing of this propaganda._

I'm the Emperor I can say whatever I want. Provided I don't get vetoed by either Robin or Tiki.

I have to say though: the thing I'm easily the most proud of is the fact that people who go through our education system come out head and shoulders above the peers in the normal Fire Emblem nations. Ylisse has a few of them, and according to Chrom the education level of the Phoenix folk tend to be on par (or higher than) lesser Noble folk of the same age.

Good stuff.

…

[Major Technological Advances]

…

Nothing groundbreaking, just steady increments onto what we already have.

The Carrier Audhulma has been tasked to Nestra, and has received a revision to go along with its new complement of two A-1 Dominator attacker aircraft. Once it finishes retrofitting in like…a year or so, it'll actually sail to the port and stay there.

 _A-1?_

The Dominator project was worked in parallel with the Walkure project, but since the technological requirements were comparatively easier (read: no need for complex transformation servos), it got done earlier. The requirement was for a carrier-born aircraft that had a high loiter time over a combat area and exists for the sole purpose of pounding ground targets until nothing exists.

To that end, the A-1 Dominator is basically a flying, squat triangle. It carries a massive complement of internal condensers and machine guns, a fridge, grill, restroom, and coffee on tap. Seats three. Honestly though, the only reason we're rolling them out at all is because two Earth world pilots made it into our roster. They are: a lady that apparently got lost mysteriously and some cadet from the RAF.

The first produced VF-1, incidentally, is going through field testing. At the stick is Nah, who volunteered for the job under the justification that she could survive the plane slamming into the ground at max speed—something that the plane has done, by the way. It's a testament to the strength of the Phoenix's Energized Armor that a plane slamming into the ground at a hundred miles an hour only needed some minor internal replacements and a fresh paint job.

…

[Colonies]

[Traesto, Elibe]

Over these past months and under Nino's careful stewardship, Traesto is finally weaning itself from the massive logistical support that was needed to get the station up and running at full time. The oceanside city now has its own manufactories that produces the materials the city needs.

The freed-up resources are being diverted to Nestra and Magvel, where we need them most.

The city enjoys a lot of revenue from tourism, not gonna lie. It's also planning to expand into the Dread Isle under its own power, which brings a tear to my eye. I need to find a dude named Dennis and get him to do really creepy things.

 _Um._

Emperor.

…

[Jewel of the Coast, Akanea]

Sadly, both Basilio and Flavia lost their bids for the Great Khan. Their champions were good, but their competitors had the edge this time. Namely, the winner had shelled out enormous amounts of money for Phoenix crafted armor from a private workshop.

Ironically, the new Great Khan is vocally anti-Phoenix, but he's also the closest to the Jewel in terms of geographic location and thus benefits the most from continued friendliness, so he's toned down his rhetoric after getting into power.

We're keeping a close eye on the situation, but for now the relationship is friendly, but strained.

 _Why didn't we offer armor to Basilio and Flavia?_

The winner's purchase was a private one, not a state one, so we couldn't interfere as a neutral party. Plus, the anti-Phoenix sentiment was pretty high, so interfering wouldn't have done good things to the stability of the country should Basilio or Flavia win.

…

[Magvel]

The front line hasn't expanded a whole lot further: the spider forest is proving difficult to break through, and we're racking up casualties cleaning the place. The front line extended past the spider forest for the sake of simplicity. A secondary line was established around the spider forest so nothing would get out.

Otherwise, construction is booming and the place is starting to look more and more like a proper modern capital. We had our first housing crisis, which is nice.

…

[Begnion]

No news here. Little Sanaki is now two years old~ yay~

There's some noise being made by the countries, and of course some skirmishes are going on, but otherwise there's no news.

…

Ok, that's it.

 _No Nestra?_

Nestra is the reason we're going to Izumo.

So…first off, and this should come as a surprise to nobody: Nohr and Hoshido have spies in each other's territories. The amount of access that these spies have are variable (Nohr spies are more effective than Hoshidan spies, for example) but overall they have a good grasp on what the other side is doing.

 _Isn't that backwards?_

As far as I can tell, the reason why Nohrian spies are effective is because the Hoshidan society takes their stratified rank for granted. Nohr spies basically learn really quickly to look important…and to pick on specific targets that are extremely vulnerable to having rank pulled on them. I should note that it's not because Hoshido people are _stupid_ , mind you: it's just that, for some people, the idea of kissing the right kind of ass sounds like a very good way for a promotion.

(Nohr has the same kind of people, but they're more used to having to give out answers regardless of rank, and are therefore more guarded in how they phrase their answers; it's not airtight, but the difference does add up over repeated espionage attempts.)

Anyways, the fact that Nestra's contribution to Nohr basically spiked by like 5000 percent wasn't lost on the spies. While Hoshido hasn't made any overt actions, Izumo has reached out to Brady and has asked for an audience. Although within Hoshido's sphere of influence, Izumo is still technically a free state, so this is a good opportunity…though I'm curious as to what's going to happen with this meeting.

I haven't met the lord of Izumo yet, I don't think, so I'm…cautiously optimistic.

…

The flight to Izumo (plus another flyby of the Local Great Canyon) ended soon enough, and…wow, springtime in Izumo is pretty.

But we're not here to sightsee. We're here for business!

 _Cue business._

I land on the outside of the town walls and walk like a plebian to the castle. I'm dressed in a crisp black suit underneath an otherwise normal cloak to avoid drawing unnecessary suspicion through the street…though judging by the glances being shot my way by the magic-users of the city, I'm not doing a very good job.

Regardless, I make it to the castle without incident, and after a little wait I am received by the local…Archduke? Izana.

 _Izana walks in wearing a Phoenix-made T-shirt. It has a (somewhat off-model) Pikachu on the front._

I can tell that it's one of ours based on the fact that nobody else makes T-shirts. The Pikachu also gives it away, yes.

"Yo." He says with a cheery greeting. "Nice to finally meet you." He is followed by some attendants and a very grumpy looking kid. "You don't mind that we have a visitor, right?" He asks with a pat on the kid's shoulder.

Well. "I don't mind, but who is he?"

"I'm Takumi." The kid says grumpily. "I _have_ to be here." Going by his tone, he would rather be doing literally anything else. I half expect him to take out headphones, fold his arms, and then teenage-sulk.

Izana grins at Takumi, then turns it onto me. "Protocol." He says. "You understand."

Hmm.

…

…

 _Cue negotiations._

…

…

The long and short of it: Izana wants to transfer Izumo to the Phoenix's sphere of influence. This is a big deal, because it is signaling that Izumo will stop being an ally of Hoshido.

"Izumo has always been neutral in the first place." Izana shrugs when I point that out. "It's not like we're going to stop being a friend of Hoshido just because of an economic turn of phrase."

Fair. "But will Hoshido see it the same way you do?"

"They will." Izana says with a furtive glance at the definitely-not-paying-attention-Takumi. "As they will attest."

Hm. Izana would not say why Takumi is at this meeting, and he's still being rather sly about it now. But the most important question is…why does Izana want to make this deal?

Given that it's been over a year, we now have a pretty good information network about Hoshido. We've done aerial fly-bys, infiltrations, and everything in between to both countries, and we know that Hoshido's idyllic appearance isn't for show: the country is indeed wealthy, and lives are very good. Internal stability is mostly through the roof, and everyone is happy. I mean, yeah, life as a peasant is rougher than life as a noble, but we're comparing the standard of living within classes between Hoshido and Nohr. Still, there really isn't much of an incentive to switch sides like this.

"Certainly, it is all that and more." Izana says as I bring up the point of Hoshidan wealth at the dinner party. "But…and this is just between you and me," he says with twenty other guests at the table and absolutely no drop in his tone. "I can see the future." He wags his fingers like he's summoning a ghost.

Really now. Grima?

 ** _With pleasure._**

 _A wave of magical power, emanating from us, washes over the gathering. Predictably, the ones that have magical training throw some glances our way, but nobody overtly reacts._

Well, I can't say if Izana has future sight, but he's certainly got some power under his hood. "I'll take your word for it." I say after not taking his word for it. "Is this the future you were looking for?"

Izana's smile turns rather…brooding. "I can see it." He says. "There will come a time where the two sides unbury their hatchets, and the two sides will find any excuse to avoid talking to each other. I would like to create a condition where one of those possibilities do not come to pass."

Hmm.

"The Phoenix Empire will be the neutral party between the two sides." Izana confirms my suspicions. "And that can't happen if it appears to favor one side over the other."

More hmm.

Hoshido is not going to take this lying down…is my initial reaction. However, Izana likely knows more about their inner workings than I do, and so I should defer to his judgment.

"Interesting." I grin, because we have multiple plans on how to integrate the two sections togethers (because of course we do). "Do you think you can guarantee a strip of land between the two cities?"

Izana's eyebrows go up. "Oh?"

Time to show off.

I take out a small Magic Map Marker (yay DAES naming sense) and set it on the table. With a little magic prodding, it activates and projects a holographic map of the area between Nestra and Hoshido.

Predictably, all conversation at the table stops abruptly as everyone examine this map. More than one General cream his pants.

 _We assume._

"This map has a frightening amount of detail." Minor Noble A murmurs. "Your Excellency, are maps of this caliber unique to the Phoenix Empire?" He asks me.

"Our map information is free to purchase." I grin. "Any civilian or visitor with pocket money will be able to purchase one of these from a gift shop." Which is true. We're not selling accurate topological maps because those are actually militarily vital, though.

The current map has no height information, only the extremely crisp outline of: the Nestra coastline, the Izumo coastline, the minor islands in the middle, and the portion of the southern coast between the two cities.

"So." I take out a telescoping metal pointer. "I'm interested in also securing this area." I gesture to the southern coast section. "Think you can make this happen?"

Izana chuckles. "That coastline is entirely cliffs. Nobody will complain if you seize it." He walks over to the map and, with a pair of chopsticks, gestures to a small area between the coastline and Izumo's territory. "This section, on the other hand, belongs to Hoshido, and I can't fathom a deal that would go over without incident." He glances at Takumi, who is _definitely_ far too young for whatever job he's being told to do right now, and is very much so out of his depth. "Though I imagine that Hoshido would not lose sleep on parting with such a small sliver of unarable land." He now overtly looks to Takumi.

Takumi is…being taken advantage of, I feel. "Yeah, uh…" The kid clears his throat. "That area is just a big dumb cliff, right? I don't think he'd care if we got rid of it."

…Oh you poor, sweet child.

"And there you have it." Izana smiles. "You'll have that little part of land, Lord Ash, so long as you promise not to intrude more than a half mile inland." He says, giving a small concession to Takumi. "Is that acceptable?" He asks me.

Yay~ "Quite."

 **Note how Takumi had basically no say in the matter.**

Noted, though not surprised.

…

For the next day, I confirm that the islands between Nestra and Izumo are effectively free territory, and they certainly won't make a move to secure them. To that end, I'll be taking those islands over given the opportunity, since they let me build more things.

 _So why did we want that section of otherwise useless coastline?_

In a nutshell, because I want an overland route between Izumo and Nestra. So, to clarify: the overland route is mostly rocky badlands on the Nestran side, rocky…rocklands, on the Izumo side, and for a large chunk in the middle it is a cliff, because the middle of the landmass is the crevasse and the mountains surrounding said crevasse.

The plan for that overland route, then, is to carve a path through the cliff. DAES and DEEP have already worked out the math behind it, and we've prepared every single Pibbles and Bulldog unit we can spare for this undertaking.

 _So…what is the plan?_

In a word? Trains.

…

[2 Months Later, Nestra Border, 3rd Person Camera]

…

The Nohrian Noble Children were on their way to visit Nestra, per their father's recommendations. At the moment, they are riding along a quiet, minor path leading to the major road to Nestra. Flanking them are their full complement of eight retainers and twelve guards.

"Why Nestra again?" Camilla sighs. "A new governor is not enough to solve its problems."

"It's good to get out of Windmire every now and then." Xander says. "Even if it is on duty."

"Windmire is fun though." Elise mutters. "There're a lot of fun people there." She has, as of a month ago, just begun her forays into Windmire's vibrant underground culture.

"You think?" Leo says, being far less familiar with anything outside of Windmire's library. "Everyone in Windmire strikes me as being quite dour."

Elise is eight. "What does 'dour' mean?"

As Leo haughtily explains the meaning of dour to the definitely-not-getting-it Elise, the party of 24 come to a much more major road to Nestra.

"Traffic seems to be heading in the wrong direction." Camilla observes upon seeing a few wagons head toward Nestra. "Have things changed much in the last year, Selena?" She turns to her retainers.

"The new management is supposedly good at their job." Severa says with a shrug. "Apart from that, I know as much as you do, Lady Camilla."

"Hmm…" Camilla muses as their caravan joins and dominates the main road. "I'm looking forward to this more and more."

Xander clears his throat. "As excited as I am about all of this, remember that Nestra at this point may as well be hostile territory. Be on your best behavior out there." He receives a chorus of affirmatives in reply.

"We're always behaved." Elise says with a slight guilty conscience. "Right, Leo?" she asks him for backup.

"Yes, we are." Leo says distractedly, already burying himself back into his book.

The party follows the main street along with the other wagons and, after a short fashion, crest a small hill. Were they not mounted they would have stopped in their tracks.

"Well…this is different." Xander remarks. "I don't remember Nestra being this green."

The territory of Nestra, to the best memories of those who have visited previously, used to be colored in all variations of dirty brown, with the occasional spots of muddy brown thrown in. Now, the field was dotted with greenery of all shapes and sizes right up to the city's walls in the distance.

Xander's first impression was that everything had been changed around the city into lush farmland, but as his initial shock wore off, he could still see the drab ground beneath the well-organized rows of shrubs and small trees. In fact, actual farmland around Nestra seemed to be few and far between, and this greatly intrigued him. _If they have a technique for making barren soil productive, then this trip is already paying off more than I had imagined._ He notes.

"Oh my goodness." Elise says while happily bouncing in her seat (she's double riding with Arthur for balance). "Look! Xander! Look!" She enthusiastically points to the closest patch of greens. "Trees!" She exclaims upon seeing rows upon rows of young-ish fig trees.

"Yes, indeed." Xander agrees in good humor. "Don't disturb them, they're still growing." He adds, since it seemed like Elise was about to dismount and hug them.

"Obviously these are still growing, but…" Leo mutters under his breath. "If these things continue to grow and flourish, then Nestra will provide as much food as Fornier."

"Is that a lot?" Elise asks innocently.

"It's a lot." Leo nods and pats Elise's head. Fornier was basically the Themis of Nohr—fertile and easy to farm. In Nohr, that translates to a province responsible for providing nearly 60% of all of its food. "If we can get their help in improving the rest of our provinces, it would be even better."

"That's a bit of a tall order." Camilla chuckles. Her chuckling makes her breasts jiggle. Or, more precisely, she forces them to do so.

Xander raises an eyebrow. "You're still practicing that?"

Camilla winks at him. "Of course. It makes for a good distraction." She chuckles again. Elise emulates her but with understandably nonexistent effects. "Speaking of distractions, how do we approach Nestra?" She gestures to their entire party. "We stand out."

Xander thinks on this a little. "Let's split into smaller groups." He says. "It'll be easier to avoid unnecessary detection."

"It should be safe enough inside the city that we would not need guards." Leo nods. "And if it isn't, then…well." He pats his chest, where a spellbook is tucked away.

The party works out the finer details of this arrangement as they arrive at the gates of Nestra. Per their agreement, the parties would be split depending on their security detail. As such, the Nohiran kids are in their own group of four, and are now standing at the threshold of a gate that they did not fully understand.

"So…" Xander breathes out. "How does this work?"

The city gate is adorned by sets of colorful banners and stood wide open, but Xander could see a square steel frame the size of the city gate right behind the open doors. The top and bottom of the frames were solid, and as people passed through the frames, a colored circle—either blue or green—would appear underneath their feet as they walked.

Suddenly, Xander notices a woman whose circle was red. As soon as he notices, guards with blue circles from the four corners of the frame immediately walk onto the frame and stop her. The woman, frightened at this sudden shift in attitude, freezes in her tracks.

Nevertheless, the guards appeared to be friendly. "Ma'am, you can't enter the city without a pass." He explains. "Come with me."

"R-right." The lady nods furiously, but doesn't move a muscle. "Um…"

"I'd like to know too." Xander jumps to the lady's defense. "What are these 'passes' you're talking about?"

The guard points to a large banner hung above the entrance that Xander had previously dismissed as just decoration.

Leo was the faster reader. "In other words, there are different passes for different people who wants to visit the city?" He asks as clarification.

"That's correct." The guard nods. "We can't let you in without the proper procedure. You there." He gestures to Xander. "Are you visitors as well? Help guide her to where she needs to go."

"I can certainly do that?" Xander frowns at the guard's logic but gives the woman a friendly smile. The woman flinches in response, making Xander feel just a wee bit self-conscious. "Come on." He says none too politely, and lead the rest of the group to a side building with a large sign that says 'Apply for Entry Passes Here'. In retrospect, he wasn't sure how he missed it the first time.

The inside of the building was a little different from what Xander expected: on the farthest end of the room was a row of tables. Between those tables and the front door were two more sets of different-colored tables with other things built into them. As far as he could tell at a glance, the people currently inside the building filter to one of these groups of tables to receive their passes.

Elise sights a tall woman in a crisp-looking suit. "What are passes and how do I get one?" She asks eagerly.

"Passes are separated into three groups." The woman explains (to Xander). "The tables on your left and right are for visitor passes: they are good for one day, and must be renewed daily should you opt to stay…most inns are outfitted with this ability. In order to receive one of these passes, you just have to pass your hand underneath the encryption gear built onto the table." She walks over to one such table and pats the 'other thing' that Xander saw before. If he knew what a microscope looked like, he would have said it looked like one.

"Ooh…that's why they're called passes!" Elise makes an understandable epiphany. The woman giggles and gives Elise a soft pat on her head before continuing with her explanation.

"The tables in the back—" Xander now sees other workers sitting behind those tables in the back. "—are for business passes. If you intend to establish a business inside Nestra and are not a citizen of the Phoenix Empire, you'll need one of those. The process is a little more complex, but the end result is the same." She says, and Xander sees one of the workers take out a little hand tool of some kind and run it over a person's hand. "These passes last longer, up to a month before renewal."

"That's a pretty strict system." Leo notes. "Though it seems to be very efficient." He adds as he watches one person enter the building, get a day pass, and walk out in less than five seconds. "I take it this is your security system?" He asks the woman.

"It is one of many." The woman nods. "Do you have any other questions?" She asks politely.

Xander shakes his head no, then walks over to an open table in the very end. He wasn't about to announce his status just like that.

 _The woman they entered the building with applied for a day pass and left in a hurry._

The man sitting at the table sees Xander coming and gestures for him to sit down. Xander does, noting that there was nothing on the table except for some paper, what is probably a quill (though unfeathered), and a small statue of a bird. A phoenix, perhaps.

"What can I help you with?" The man asks.

"I would like to know if you can tell me about the current state of business between Nestra and its bordering Nohrian towns." Xander asks in a low tone.

The man shrugs. "Not my field of expertise, sorry…though I will say, a lot of people are visiting and leaving after buying food." He drums his fingers on the table. "I'm just here to issue business passes. Are you looking for one?"

"Uh…" Xander wasn't really used to being addressed like a normal person, despite the fact that he was currently dressed like one. "No, sorry. I was merely curious."

"Then I hope I addressed your curiosity." The man smiles.

…

…

The four Nohr children, after a little more poking around, receive their visitor passes and make their way into Nohr.

"Hmm." Leo was the first to notice something wrong about the city.

Xander sees it too. While the main street leading from the gate was wide, well paved, and surrounded by well-built structures, rows upon rows of tents line the streets just off the beaten path. Given by the foot traffic surrounding them, Xander could see that the tents were a vital part of the city.

"Does that make this place a paper tiger?" Leo muses with his hand on his chin.

"I like tigers." Elise muses, copying Leo's pose.

"I imagine we'll find out if we talk to one of them." Camilla says. She looks around for a vendor and finds quite a few of them congregated around what could only be a designated area of some kind. With a (semi) practiced swaying of her hips, she accosts one such vendor. "Excuse me, darling." She starts with a sultry tone.

The man she accosted had his wife within spitting distance, and he therefore had a vested interest in not falling for Camilla's display. "Yeah?" He says tersely.

Camilla could see as much, and decides tone down her act. "What's with the tents?" She asks.

"The city's still being built." The man says. "So a lot of tents are here in the meantime." He points to a distant section of the city. "If you want to see one of the newer neighborhoods going up, go that way."

"Thank you very much." Camilla says earnestly and leaves without buying anything. "Shall we?"

The main road of Nestra runs between four locations: the north gate, the west gate (where the Nohr kids are at right now), the city center, and the dock area. The road has two levels to it: the slightly higher pedestrian level, and the slightly lower vehicle level. Both of which are used by pedestrians because road vehicles are a rarity.

The road level is wide enough for two three trucks to go in parallel (four if they squeeze a little). The pedestrian level is maybe one truck width across and then some. The entire road is paved with a material that Xander has never seen before, and just by stepping on it he could feel the weight on his shoulders lighten somehow.

The four kids stroll down the wide-open main road, occasionally stopping at a shop or stall to do some perusing. They take their time, and reach the intersection of the three main roads come noon. They stop in front of one of the larger buildings in the intersection.

"And…what might this be?" Camilla marvels of the marble-white, box-like building. "Is it the mansion of the ruling house?" She, like everyone else, notice the amount of foot traffic going in and out of the building.

"Obviously it's some kind of freely accessible structure." Leo says. "Though it is quite gaudy." He leers at the columns of windows lining the large building. "Since it seems to be free to access, shall we take a look?" He says. His eyes then notice and lock mercilessly onto a package being brought out of the building. "Posthaste." He adds.

The package was a small bundle of books.

"Posthaste?" Camilla repeats as Leo spearheads the charge. "He's really looking forward to this."

Leo finds the entrance to the building—a wide set of four doors built side-by-side—and march in eagerly. He stops short as soon as he crosses the threshold.

Camilla whistles as she catches up to him. "Wow. That's a lot of books."

Leo had just stepped into the Nestra branch of the Phoenix Libraries. It is huge, and holds quite a lot of books, among other things. He takes one more step forward, and is barred from further entry by a piece of wood being slapped across his chest.

"Excuse me?" He says to the wood, before following it to the wielder.

A small girl with light-green hair waves the meter-long ruler at him. "No weapons in the library." She says as commandingly as a small girl could manage.

"We…what are you talking about?" Leo says dismissively and puts his hand on the meterstick. Then nothing happens. He stares at the girl.

"Like I said, no weapons in the library." The girl says again. "I know you have a book under your shirt."

Leo had intended to just brush off the meterstick away and head deeper into the library, as is his right, but he found that he could not make that little piece of wood twitch. "You mean, this?" Leo pulls out his small Fire spellbook he keeps for emergencies. "I'm afraid I can't part with this."

The little girl didn't seem to fully understand. "Go over there." She points to a large help desk to Leo's left. "They'll lock your book so you don't burn things." She tosses her hair as if she's copying someone, then goes back to her job of…sitting on a stool next to the door, like a guard.

The Nohiran kids watch with a bit of confusion as the little girl scrambles, with difficulty, onto the stool that's almost as tall as she was.

Elise makes the first move and bounces over to the girl. "I'm Elise. Let's be friends!" She says, glowing.

The girl's response is to look a bit conflicted over having just sat down and now needing to get up again. "I'm Alicia." She hops down from her stool. "It's nice to meet you." She curtsies properly. Unfortunately this means she had to let go of the meterstick, which means her greeting was finished by the loud clack of wood on the smooth stone floor. She, now a little red in the face, reequips her meterstick.

Elise didn't care. She jumps and hugs Alicia at full power. Xander, with ever the eye for strength, noted how the little girl didn't so much as flinch from being tackle-hugged despite being a little smaller than Elise.

"You work here, little one?" Camilla asks. "Seems…unlikely." She adds in a low tone.

"Yes." Alicia says proudly. "I protect the peace."

"That's so cool!" Elise squeals. "You're a knight like Xander!"

"A knight-in-training." Xander says with a wry chuckle. "But that is impressive, Alicia."

The little girl nods with a bit of a smirk on her face. "I'll show you guys around!" She says. "This is a pretty big place, after all!"

The Nohr children let themselves be dragged through a very haphazard tour of the library. Xander and Camilla were dutifully interested, largely because this was information they could use later. Elise and Leo were not as interested, Leo because he just wanted to read the plethora of books, and Elise because she really did not care one whit about a place with a plethora of books.

As Alicia leads the four kids through the rows of books (because she was a little lost) Leo takes it upon himself to detach from the tour and actually get his hands on one of the books. He catches Xander's eye, flash a sign for time, wait until Alicia faced the opposite direction, and then duck down between shelves and vanish from sight.

"Where's Leo going?" Alicia says immediately, making Xander blink.

 _How?_ He wanted to ask. "He's…interested in reading the books." He says instead. "Apologies for any offense."

Alicia pouts. "He's just like that puffy guy."

Camilla perks up. "Puffy guy?"

Alicia nods furious. "Yeah. That…prince from Hosido." The 'h' gets away from her.

"Prince from Hoshido…" Leo mutters, having overheard the whole thing (no time to get away). "…Takumi?" He scowls. Their spy network inside Hoshido had a problem of having too many false positives with regards to information about the Hoshidan royalty, to the point where the dozen or so number of princes in the country each have roughly twenty different names. It made finding out real information rather difficult.

"Hoshido's here, too?" Xander asks.

"Just puffy guy." Alicia replies. "I think he did something bad and that's why he's here." She cocks her head as if thinking. "Let's go see him." She says suddenly.

"Can you find him in this place? It's really big." Elise asks, curious.

"His magic is easy to see." Alicia replies with perfect nonchalance. "Kinda like you guys, actually." She realizes. "Why?"

 _I think she means the Dragon's Vein._ Camilla realizes and flashes Xander a look of warning.

Xander comes to the same conclusion. "We're a little weird like that." He says with a smile.

Alicia stares at Xander a little more. "Ok." She says after an uncomfortable amount of time. "Let's go see puffy guy." She says, and keeps going.

Xander stares after the little girl. "I figured she was unusual, but this is too strange." He muses. "We're following her."

…

Alicia leads the party up a floor. "See?" She points to a table, where the puffy-haired prince of Hoshido was indeed sitting. "He's right there." She says.

"What's he doing here?" Xander asks himself. "I realize Nestra's neutral, but Hoshido royalty rarely ever leaves their home territory."

"I dunno." Alicia replies to Xander's question. "You can go ask him."

"I will do that. Thank you, Alicia." Xander says graciously.

Takumi, for his part, hears footsteps and looks up to see…someone he's never seen before. "What do you want?" He asks curtly. "I'm busy."

"I'm just curious." Xander says. "I heard there was a prince of Hoshido visiting." He smiles slightly. "How do you do, Ryoma?" His access to information was no better than Leo's, but this, at least, was a calculated move. Xander knew enough about Ryoma's general parameters to know that this prince was, at least, not Ryoma.

Takumi's response is nothing short of arctic. "Ryoma's my brother. I'm Takumi." He rolls his eyes. "We look nothing alike, idiot."

 _A bit crude._ Xander's smile doesn't fade. _Looks like our spies were right about this one._ "Apologies, Prince Takumi." Xander bows. "Given the current situation, I assumed that Hoshido would want to send its most valued diplomat."

Takmui misses the stealth insult. "I don't know if I'm a diplomat or whatever, but I'm definitely here." He says with a sigh. "Be nice if it didn't feel like a punishment, but…" He trails off.

 _He's very easy to pump for information I see._ Xander notes. "How are things in Hoshido? I wanted to visit but I've only heard the stories."

"You'll get your chance soon enough." Takumi says. "Izumo's going into an alliance with the PE, and it'll be open to people from Nohr."

 _I knew that._ Xander thinks. _Do you have any information that befits your status as a prince?_ "Izumo sounds nice."

"It's one of the better seaside towns." Takumi smirks. "Not that Nohr has anything like it."

Xander's smile freezes for just a moment. "Nohrian coastal life tend to be a little hard." He admits.

"No kidding." Takumi grins. "So when you do plan to tell me who you are? You're obviously underdressing here."

Xander blinks. He was underdressed in the sense that he dressed like a commoner, but there shouldn't have been any tells for Takumi to pick up.

"Oh, come on." Takumi laughs. "No commoner's gonna walk up to a random stranger and pick him out to be a prince of Hoshido."

 _True._ Xander admits in his head. "I am Xander." He introduces himself. "A Knight in training."

"Mm." Takumi dismisses Xander and goes back to his book. He was not being rude (at least, not intentionally), it was just that he's done with the conversation with a member of a lesser rank, and really did not know how else to proceed.

Unfortunately, he did not have only one visitor.

Elise quizzically peeks over his shoulder and asks, rather loudly, "What are you reading?"

Takumi nearly jumps from his chair. "And who are you?" He demands.

"I'm Elise!" Elise says cheerfully. "Alicia's new friend!"

Takumi didn't care. "That's nice." He calms back down and goes back to his book.

"Well, darling." Camilla takes a position across the table from him and leans down for maximum effect. "It's so nice to meet you."

Takumi doesn't bite. "That's great. Now get lost, I'm trying to read."

Camilla rather noticeably wilts. She considers getting an outfit that would make this whole sex-appeal thing work better.

Alicia suddenly turns her head to look in the direction of the entrance. She then immediately puts her meterstick aside and began to work with her hair and outfit.

The four noble children all stop to watch Alicia go through what can best be described as a routine. She carefully pats down her hair, smooths out her dress, works with her hair again because her work on her dress made it messy, work with her dress again because her hair's getting in the way, and so on.

After a good twenty seconds, she seems satisfied with the end result. As far as Xander could see there wasn't much of a difference from when she started, but she was obviously doing it for a reason.

That reason seemed to appear out of nowhere. Suddenly, Xander finds himself in the presence of a man he once saw back in Windmire.

Alicia lifts the hems her skirt and gives a nice and proper curtsey. "Good afternoon, father." She says to Ash.

Ash's response is to grin widely, sweep Alicia into his arms, and give her a massive squeeze.

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

My baby girl is SOOO CUTE OH MY GOD

 _"Dad! Daad!" Alicia squeals as we squeeze with entirely too much force._

I put her down. "Hey, Allie." I tussle her hair. "How's your job?"

"It's going great! I even made a friend!" She points to…isn't that…uh…what's her face. Elise?

 _Her Job?_

She wanted to help the library and I didn't see a downside.

Anyway, my immediate response upon seeing Elise is just a dull "Huh." What's she doing here? "Well, it certainly looks like you've made a good friend." I then focus on Elise. "Long time no see, princess."

 _Takumi perks up._

"Um…" Elise doesn't seem to remember me.

One of the others apparently do. The oldest one here (I think his name was Xander) immediately salute and take a knee.

"I apologize for my late greeting." Xander says with his eyes fixed on my shoes. "And for treating your daughter without the respect as merited by her station."

…dude, chill. "It's fine, Prince…Xander, was it? Sorry, I'm bad with names."

"Prince?" Takumi repeats. "You're a prince?"

Hmm… "Let me guess." I say before Xander could. "You were infiltrating while pretending to be a commoner?"

"Er." Xander looks a little…worried. "It was not my intention to sneak, your majesty." He says apologetically. "I just…I did not wish to create unnecessary trouble for a private visit."

Mission accomplished, I guess. "Well, if you ever want to visit without having to sneak around, then let us know ahead of time." I mean… "The entire reason I came back was because of you guys, you know?"

Xander does not comprehend. "I understand." He says anyway.

 _So…_

I was in Ylisstol some hours ago. All of my cities and trade posts have an interconnected network of cables that allow for modern communications (in the sense that we can real-time call each station). We have things that are basically two-way radios at this point.

Anyways, I heard from Morgan that four probable manaketes had entered into Nestrian territory some time ago, and had odd magic signatures. I wasn't sure why there were suddenly four manaketes, so I flew here at top speed to check for myself.

Also: atmospheric exit/re-entry flight paths are really hard to manage without slamming into the ground.

But yeah, I came rushing over because there were four spikes that couldn't be identified, and they made contact with Alicia and Takumi. I didn't exactly fear the _worst,_ but it was important enough that I had to come look.

…I'm also curious to know exactly why their powers were…y'know, only Kinda-dragony rather than really-dragony, but I suppose that's one of the things that can come later. "Yo, Takumi. Did you find everything ok?"

"Ah, yeah." Takumi replies gratefully. "I learned a lot today…I can come tomorrow too, right?"

Sure. "Library's open to everyone."

"If I may." Xander says. "I noticed that there is a significant discrepancy between the wealth as exuded by this structure and the general state of the city."

And you would like to know why. "In the simplest of terms? Nestra is big and our constructors can't handle everything at the same time." Wait, I know. "Let's go on a walk, I'll explain how things are going." If you think about it, Xander is technically my boss, and the kind of stories he's going to tell will determine if we can hold Nestra for the foreseeable future.

…until we can properly reinforce and fortify it, anyway.

 _We take Xander on a walking tour of the city. There really isn't much to see._

We've had a year or so to build Nestra, and the parts of Nestra that are completed (to some level) are: the Dock, the Library, Main Street, and Blocks one through three.

The Dock is our military installation. It is the place where our trade ships arrive and deliver their supplies to the city. Currently, the cruiser 'Eagle Nest' is moored at dock, and basically acts as a morale booster for the city while it gets built back up among other things. In around three months or so, the Carrier Audhulma will finish its retrofit and will be placed into service here on a more permanent basis.

The Library is the city's core. It provides information as well as bureaucratic information, plus other services. It's the reason people visit Nestra apart from buying food. It'd be nice if the place also offered classes like the other branches, but our current lack of experienced senior personnel makes that impossible.

The Main Street's purpose is to make sure supplies and vehicles can quickly travel from and Nestra's port without issues. In the future the military port will be moved out of the city, so it'll be used exclusively for economic reasons. It is also enchanted with a mini-windshoes effect, so anyone walking on the road will be a little faster and their carried goods will weigh a bit less. The main road is wide because I expect to run tanks and trucks down the main street in the future.

The city is divided into a multitude of 'blocks' for easier management. Of those blocks, one, two, and three are built well enough that we can move people into them. Most of it is apartments, and the density is pretty high thanks to the existence of magic-based elevators (Fuck Yeah Magic™).

Each house is roughly…what, 2000 square feet in terms of floor space? It's pretty big. I don't remember what each unit is like on the inside, but it's worlds apart from what its residents had before. Each unit has internal plumbing, heating, and windows with acceptable views of the outside. The civic planners made it possible for each unit to get some sun during the day, so that's nice of them. The city is also planned to have a shell-shaped skyline, with buildings nearest to the main roads being shorter than the ones away. The purpose of this is to make sure deployed weaponry would be able to shoot without worrying about hitting things while inside the city.

The three blocks house roughly 20% of the existing city's population, so we have some work to do.

 _Why the slow rate of progress?_

Well, I've expanded too far too fast. Pibbles and Bulldogs are great equipment, but we have a limited number of them and we can't add to our numbers fast enough. Plus, I signed a contract to open a new railway between Izumo and Nestra and _that_ finished last week. I underestimated the amount of…base work, that had to go into building a new city from scratch.

Fortunately the citizens are understanding enough (and we've provided tents, which we also had to make…) and things are stable so far. We do keep the food coming and agriculture around Nestra has taken off, plus the city can send fishing boats out since the Eagle Nest keeps pirates at bay, so the quality of life isn't atrocious.

Speaking of which: the Eagle's Nest is the latest addition to the Phoenix Fleet, and is the subject of my current tour with the three Nohrian kids. I think one of them stayed behind, which I don't mind too much.

"It's so big!" Elise marvels at seeing the ship. "It has wings!" She hops up and down in excitement. "Does it fly?!"

Sadly. "No, it doesn't. The wings serve a secondary purpose." I say.

The Eagle Nest is our technology demonstrator for the new energized catapult. It uses the same hull base as a standard cruiser, but the tower (the block of buildings you see in the middle of a ship) is moved forward so the back of the ship has room for the catapult. The ship also has a lighter armament loadout, featuring just a single main cannon and about a dozen AA batteries…as well as a hangar that can carry two A-1 'Diamond' strike crafts.

"That is a warship, is it not?" Xander asks. "I don't recognize the weaponry, but the menacing quality of it is unmissable." He's got good senses.

"You are very astute." I nod. "The Eagle's Nest is the Phoenix Navy's first Aviation Cruiser. Depending on how its field trials go, it may be the first of many."

"Field trials?" Camilla sees a problem with that. "So it's an incomplete ship?"

Eeh… "It's a prototype and is still being tweaked." I say. It did get its shakedown cruise between the port back in Jewel and here. "Apparently the metrics on it aren't too good." Speaking of which. "It's scheduled to depart in around an hour or so. You can get a tour on it if you want."

"Really?!" Elise says, excited.

"Really?" Xander says, doubtful.

I nod. "Yeah. Obviously, you won't see the parts that are sensitive to the operation of the ship, though." Like the A-1s, unless they have to sortie.

 ** _Ahem._**

…so basically they're going to see the A-1s today. Dammit.

"That sounds like fun!" Elise sees the gangplank and practically races for it.

 _And we're doing this because…_

Good relations and all that. If nothing else, being on good terms with Elise will pay dividends in the future.

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

 _Meanwhile, back at the library…_

"You didn't go with the rest of your family?" Takumi asks as Leo sits across from him.

"I'd much prefer to read." Leo replies, not taking his eyes from his book. "I didn't take you to be a bookworm type."

"I'm not." Takumi huffs. "I'm just here because I didn't do my job right."

 _Interesting._ Leo idly flips a page. "Happens to the best of us."

Takumi was taken aback by that. "I…yeah, you're right."

The two reads in silence for a little longer.

"I like it here." Takumi says suddenly. "Nestra's a good place."

"It's definitely getting better." Leo agrees. "I didn't think I would see this many books in my lifetime."

"I think the library in Shirasagi is bigger." Takumi can't help but quip. "But yeah, it's impressive."

"Speaking of which, what are you reading?" Leo asks, looking up at last.

"Oh, this?" Takumi shows him. "I want to make a bow that my father's never seen before." He says. "And Ash—er, Emperor Ash—said that they had a lot of books on magic and archery. So…yeah."

Leo nods. "Good luck." He says earnest.

"Yeah." Takumi replies with a nervous smile. "It'd be nice if he looks at me like Ryoma one day." He mutters.

 _I don't know this Ryoma, but I understand the sentiment._ Leo notes.

"What are you working on?" Takumi asks, now genuinely interested.

Leo shows him. "Well, I saw the farms around Nestra, and I figured I'd look to see if they have any books on agriculture methods." He says. "I'd like to see all of Nohr become as green and as lush as this."

Five minutes ago Takumi would have laughed in Leo's face. "That's cool." He says. "You know, they offer classes here." He says suddenly. "Well, they will; the Academy block is slated to be built in about a month from now. When that happens, they'll have Outrealmer teachers teaching classes, and I'm sure there's at least one of them who can help you."

"That sounds great!" Leo replies with a grin. "What do you have to do to study here, though?" He asks.

"Ah, well." Takumi didn't readily have an answer. "I think you have to have a pass or something." He says. "We can go ask later."

…

[Back on the Ship]

…

The Eagle Nest sets sail! It's honestly not doing much, just a lap around the water between Nestra and Izumo.

"This is my first time on a ship!" Elise says while jumping up and down rather dangerously next to the railings. "This is so cool!"

"Yes, Elise, now be careful so you don't fall over." Xander reminds her. "I've never been on a ship this fast before." He adds to himself. "This thing puts a sailing ship to shame."

Camilla was…not doing so hot. "Uugh."

"Big sis, are you seasick?" Elise asks her.

"This feels far too different from riding on a Wyvern." Camilla groans. "I don't like it one bit."

Xander rubs her back. "Fresh air's not helping matters?" They were all topside.

"I want my baby." Camilla sighs. "Walking sucks. I want to fly."

"You're a flier?" Ash asks her. "What kind?"

"A Wyvern Knight." Camilla replies. "In training." She adds after a second.

"Oh, cool." Ash grins. "I used to be one too, before…well, before I got a job change."

Xander's eyebrows go up. "That's surprising…I didn't take you for a frontline fighter. No offense meant."

"None taken." Ash says. "I mean, I do still fly, but just in a different fashion."

As the ship nears the Hoshidan coastline, they see a plume of white smoke from Izumo.

"That can't be good." Ash mutters. "Excuse me."

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

I really only have myself to blame for this one.

 _We hurry to the bridge._

"What's the word?" I ask as soon as I step in.

"There seems to be some kind of problem in Izumo territory." The maydar operator says. "a village is under attack by a flock of unknowns."

Unknowns…let's take a look at the maydar here.

The maydar is scoped to an area 40 miles inland, well within Izumo territory. The readout is blurry due to the distance, but the arrangement of dots implies a group of villagers defending their town due to an outsider attack. Based on their mana output, the outsiders are in no way human.

"I'll contact the archduke." I say...wait, this is a good opportunity. "Have the eagles deploy and interdict."

"Aye aye." The captain says. "Engine, full stop!"

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

The Nohrian kids have cleared the deck at this point, and are in a raised relaxation lounge that offered a great view of the water.

"What do you think that smoke meant, Camilla?" Xander asks.

"Probably a relay signal of some kind." She says, recovering as the ship stops. "Our spies have said something about Hoshido using a relay of smokes to transmit information."

"Hey." Ash pokes his head into the room. "I need to step out for a second. Can you guys stay put?"

"I don't see much choice." Camilla huffs.

"Why?" Elise asks.

"Izumo's having a bit of a problem." Ash explains. "There's a village being hit some 40 miles inland."

"If you have a free Wyvern I'd love to go help." Camilla offers immediately.

"Appreciate it, but we don't." Ash says. "Stay put." He leaves in a rush.

"Great." Xander sighs. "The one time where we could make a good impression and we're stuck doing nothing."

Suddenly, Elise lets out the mother of all gasps and start tugging on Xander's sleeve. "Xander! Xanderxanderxander! Looklooklooklooklook!"

Xander turns to see a weird, reflective triangle roll out of the ship's backside. He also sees the strange contraption on the backside of the ship extend and grow as the triangle is pointed in the same direction as a series of arrows painted on the deck of the contraptions.

The triangle then unfurls a set of wings, making it twice as wide as the cruiser it came out of. A series of lights begins to glow red on the deck of the contraption, which Xander assumes to have some meaning.

The lights turn green. With a metallic screech, the triangle catapults into the air.

 _So that mechanism lets that thing take flight?_ Xander reasons as the contraption resets itself for a second triangle. _Interesting._

…

[Izumo countryside, the village of Kanara]

…

Some three days ago, the people of the village made a strange discovery. A pile of strange masks had been found some distance from the village and nobody knew how it got there. The masks resembled a face, with a dark hole for a mouth that was strangely warm. The pile of masks was weird, but it didn't really do anything, and so apart from some of the kids taking the masks into their homes (because hey, free stuff) nobody paid them any attention.

Earlier this morning, it rained. The masks strangely glowed in the rain, prompting kids to bring the masks out of their houses to compare whose was shinier in the rain.

When the rain stopped, the masks came to life.

One moment, it was a strange-looking mask. The next, the mask was riding on top of a muscular, stony golem that stood a good thirty feet high. They tower over the village, observe it for a moment, then lumber into action and lay waste to it.

The population of the village, some three hundred or so, escape after taking some pretty hefty losses with the golems giving chase. By the time Izumo has sent the warning to its patrolling knights, around half of the villagers were killed and the rest had scattered, with the largest remaining group taking shelter at a nearby village. Initially, the second village was welcoming to the refugees. When the golems showed up, the welcoming mood evaporated.

"Why the hell did you bring them here?!" The second village's chief demands of the first one. "You should have just stayed and fought!"

"What would that have achieved?!" The first village's chief snaps back. "If we all died, you would have been next!"

"Yes, but it would have been later." A wiseass from the second village quips, earning him a glare from the first village's chief.

"They're coming!" A lookout yells. "Fifty of them!"

The rows upon rows of stone golems march across the freshly planted fields toward the village. Some of the golems stop, rear, back, and throw their pillar-like stone arms at the village.

"Holy shit!" Wiseass helpfully says as the stone arms impact the village's buildings and collapse them on contact. "What do we do?!" He waves around his little stick of a spear. "We can't fight them with these things!"

"Delay them!" The first village chief snaps. "Hold out until the Izumo garrison shows up!"

"Even with hard riding, Izumo's garrison will take hours to get here." The second chief moans. "We won't last that long."

"And now you know why we fled." The first chief says in an attempt at levity. "If we can't hold, then we should escape."

 _Note that stone arms are still being thrown._

"I will not leave the wounded." The second chief says firmly. "I am a proud descendant of Samurai, disgraced as they may be. In their memory, I will not abandon my people."

The first chief grumbles and doesn't respond. Honor is a big part of Hoshidan society, and losing it was synonymous with losing their life. He wasn't about to lose his and his position along with it.

One stone arm lands deeper into the village.

"One hundred paces!" The lookout yells in warning.

"Brace spears!" The village militia leader (ex-military) yells. "Steady!"

The militia was not steady. The front half, in a mixture of panic and desperation, charges the golems.

The leading man, a teenager of sixteen years, reach the foremost stone golem and stab it with his spear. To his fleeting surprise, the spear actually goes in and causes the golem to bleed a thick white fluid. In retaliation, the golem smacks the boy with its un-thrown arm and sends him flying into the village, where he hits the mayor's house and rolls off in a bloody smear. Fortunately for him, he was dead before he took into the air.

Sheltering inside the house were some of the remaining civilians of Kanara. They flinch as the corpse hits the ground with a wet splatter. The adults near the windows shield the eyes of the children when they realize exactly what had just landed in front of them.

"Dad, I'm scared." A small girl whispers as her father holds her tight.

"It's ok." Her father whispers back soothingly. "Izumo's Samurai will be here for us. Be brave, and we'll be alright."

The girl does her best to not cry, instead just letting out a low whimper.

"Shh." The father coos. "We'll be ok. We'll be ok."

Outside, things were markedly not ok. The men who had snapped and charged were all in various forms of dead, and the golems had advanced directly into the line of the remaining militia. Being terrified militia, the line pulled back with every step the golems took. Which meant that the golems now had access to the first line of houses.

Fortunately, those houses were abandoned in the face of the impending disaster, and thus no lives were lost as the golems swept through the houses with their overlong arms. Despite their stony appearance, the arms had no issues flexing and bending for maximum effect.

"This isn't worth it." One of the militia men said. "This is not worth it." His sentiments are nonverbally echoed down the line. Their morale, already wavering, begin to break.

"Steady!" The militia leader barks again. "If you fold and break, everyone will die." He then ducks underneath an errant piece of flying house. "Keep formation!"

The foremost golems continue their slow, steady advance. The militia continue to back away. One of them snap and, in desperation, charges. Like the previous guy, his spear does make an impact. The golem he pokes responds by closing its hand around the man, and he gets a second to scream before the golem crushes him in its hand.

"Oh gods." The militia leader gulps as the golem releases its handful of bloodied meat. His mind helpfully tries to deal with the shock by comparing the destroyed body to a poorly shaped sausage.

As the golems continue their advance, the rest of the militia's morale shatters. Those that still had their wits about them drop their weapons and flee in any way possible. Those that froze or else could not run fast enough (or in the wrong direction) get snatched by the golems. If there is one silver lining, it is that their painful deaths are at least swift.

Inside the mayor's mansion, the civilians only hear a sudden spike in panicked screaming before the sounds of the golem's footsteps re-dominate the landscape. "What happened?!" One man demands.

"They've run away!" A man close to the window shouts. "They're abandoned us!"

"They're abandoning us?" One woman wails. "Oh gods, please have mercy!"

"I'm not staying here!" Another man yells. "Let's go!" He gets up to leave, and takes one step towards the door before a stone pillar rudely interrupts his journey. He falls on his rear as the golem raises its arm, revealing a virtual wall of golems between the refugees and possible safety.

The refugees therefore back away from the golems towards the remaining three walls with nowhere to run.

"DUCK!" A man shouts as a golem swings its arm, destroying the entire second floor of the mayor's house and revealing the refugees to the noon sun. It also gives them a very clear look on the golems that were slowly surrounding their location.

Without any other choice, the refugees instinctively huddle.

"Dad…" The little girl whimpers, now too scared to cry. Her eyes were locked onto the golems in fear and shock.

Her father pats her head with a shaking arm. "It's ok, Mozu. I'm here." He hugs her harder. "Close your eyes."

Mozu is…honestly too scared to comply. As she watches the golem raise its arm, she hears, despite herself, a low roar.

Her father hears the roar as well, and looks around to see…clouds. Two clouds, silhouetted against the blue sky. Moving.

The closest golem raises its arm to slam it into the refugees. Its arm rises high into the air, making the refugees flinch. The closest golem then takes a crackling beam of light into its chest, and crumbles into a mix of its white blood and dust.

"Monster One, hit confirmed." The pilot of the lead Diamond says. "Mayo is down."

"It looks pretty bad down there." Her electronics officer says. "There's some civilians holed up in the middle of the golems." He adds. "Marking targets. Gunners."

"Aye." The first gunner sights the golem and depresses his trigger.

Mozu's father flinches as the air seems to scream, and a wall of smoke rises behind them.

"Hit." The gunner says. "Looks like the wall's out, too."

Mozu sees a large hole where before there was only a solid wall. Her father sees it too, and, with his daughter firmly in his grasp, rise and run.

"That man knows where it's at." The pilot says approving before switching to a loudspeaker. "Civilians, this is the Phoenix Empire speaking. Escape due west through the opening, we'll provide covering fire." A few of the civilians are shaken from their stunned state and escape. "Switching to Loitering mode." The pilot announces.

Mozu, now feeling a little better, looks up to see the 'clouds' spreading its wings. The weird glowy bits on its back seems to glow and change, and the cloud…slows down?

"Switch to Loitering mode complete." Monster One says. "Engaging all weapons."

"Aye aye." Both gunners on the craft respond readily.

Mozu watches as the bottoms of the 'clouds' open and reveal…things. As a five-year-old, she's really way too young to understand exactly what she's seeing.

At this point, the refugees have stopped running, and all of them have their eyes turned the sky. All of them then see the underside of the 'clouds' glow with furious power. The Golems (and the rest of the village) turn into piles of mush and debris in seconds.

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

Nicely done.

 _We are currently hovering some distance away from the combat area._

"Monster One, all Mayo are down." The pilot says over the radio (that I have tapped into). "Exit Loiter Mode and RTB."

…why Mayo, though?

 _It's because they bleed white._

…Still, the fuck happened? I picked up on their magic signatures and it resembled literally nothing I've ever seen before. The closest thing I could match it to would be a manakete, and that makes literally no sense to me. Hell, it's not even that much of a match.

I mean…ugh. I'm very glad that my not-slacking on military hardware is paying off, but…whatever this is, is way too soon.

"You know…" Archduke Izana says shakily. Jovially, but shakily. "This isn't what I had in mind when you said you'd 'show me the problem.'"

 _We're flying with him. He is currently holding onto a piece of wood that we are giving leverage to._

 **Dragon strength, bitches!**

Who taught you that one? Anyways, I've brought Izana along because I didn't feel like asking for forgiveness without a little proof. "Yeah, well…I didn't think I'd see something like this, either." I say.

"Not the bandits you were looking for?" Izana asks while trying really hard not to look down.

"Not anything I was looking for." I reply. "Hell, they weren't even the right kind of monsters." As of this point, I've seen: purple vapor zombies, literal zombies, and now these stone mayonnaise zombies. I realize they're not zombies, but the others weren't real zombies either so eh.

 _We fly Izana back to Izumo._

"Ooh…solid land." He says as we land. "How I missed thee." He heaves a contented sigh before turning on me. "As the Archduke of the free nation of Izumo, I, the humble Archest of Archdukes, give you my thanks." He makes a florid (if wobbly) bow.

"We did what we could." I shrug. "We'll install a communications suite into the castle so you can request for support as needed."

"Of course." Izana grins. "So…was this within your expectations, Emperor?" He asks, his voice sly.

"Fuck no." I sigh. "I don't know what this is."

"If I may give you a word of advice?" Izana's smile tempers a bit. "If you have a question you cannot answer, especially when it comes to this continent, then it's in your best interest to find the Rainbow Sage."

Hmm. "I'll take that into consideration."

Ugh. What a mess.

.

.

.

{ == + === }

Author Notes: The timeframe surrounding this chapter's release had absolutely nothing to do with the release of Stellaris Megacorp. Nope. Nothing. None at all.

Also, just to be clear: this is not the part of the timeline where you would, in game, recruit Mozu. That comes later.

[Age as of the end of this chapter]

Time flows rather quickly here, so for reference:

Xander(19), Camilla(17), Leo(15), Elise(8).

Ryoma(18), Hinoka(15), Takumi(13), Sakura(10).

Corrin(16), Kamui(16), Azura(13).


	7. Part 5: Onset

{ === + === }

[Some days later]

Time to meet the rainbow sage.

 _Why the delay?_

Hoshido had some ruffled feathers due to the fact that we scrambled war assets so close to their borders. Don't blame them, really. We had to smooth those feathers without doing anything major and untoward, and "Heads of state suddenly disappears" would be one of those major things.

Oh, and just to make it clear: Takumi isn't in Nestra on a recommendation. He's in Nestra as punishment. Because he circumvented authority and ceded Hoshidan territory to a foreign nation, he was exiled out of the nation for four years as compensation for that grievous overreach of princely powers. Sumeragi, the head of state, is the only one that gets to do things like that.

…Though the only reason why he could do that in the first place was because Sumeragi wanted a political scapegoat for a plan that definitely would have cost him loyalty.

 _And we know this because…_

I carry a Phoenix Standard with me wherever I go. Can't lie in my presence.

Anyways, the three of us (Me, Tiki, Robin) are now ready to go meet the Rainbow Sage!

…What, I wanted to go on a trip with my wives.

…

On a nice and sunny day, the three of us take off from Nestra and fly towards where we think the Rainbow Sage is. He's not that hard to find, to be honest: the man is masking his power, but it's visible enough that we don't have much trouble pegging him. It also helps that we've scanned the entire continent and have every possible manakete under surveillance and monitoring. We know their rough locations, and since there's exactly one of them that doesn't move around much it's not a lot of deductive work to figure out who's who.

…He does 'split' sometimes, though, so that's kinda weird. Anyways, it takes us some time (our tagging isn't picture perfect) but we eventually locate his power at a castle on a hill, complete with like a million steps that would be 100% a pain to climb. Fortunately we can all fly and are hovering some three hundred feet over the area.

Below us is…a bunch of smaller powers meandering around, and they all feel like the guy we're looking for. Is it on purpose?

"He's very powerful." Tiki comments.

"Yeah. All those are functionally aspects." Robin says. "If he's making this many then he might know that we're here."

At this distance, we can pick up on his power, and therefore the opposite would also be true.

Robin prepares her Thoron HVC.

 _Which is…_

Thoron type 'High Velocity Chained'. It's her custom spell and, arguably, her new personal trademark. It's so broken.

…In any event, we do need to make a visit, and it helps to at least pretend to be normal. We descend down to the top of the castle, land on the balcony, gently open the window and break in, and then walk around like normal people. Normal burglars, but normal.

The halls are…threadbare. It's very clean and very well kept, but there's nothing in terms of decoration or any sign of clutter. After some walking we reach what could be the centermost room. There are two pillars on the gleaming wooden floor with paintings on them, but as far as I can tell the paintings are empty.

Between the two pillars, sitting cross legged, is a small, old man. The sight of him makes something in my heart stir.

 ** _Oh my._**

Or it could just be Grima. You recognize him?

 ** _I believe I do. Can you give me control?_**

Sure.

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

Ash's eyes glow with a bright, purple light, and his being seems to take up more space than before. Beside him, Tiki and Robin also give controls to their God Dragons, and suddenly the empty room feels very crowded.

"It's been a long time, old man." Grima!Ash says with a grin. He bows reverentially.

"Ah…Grima, was it?" The old man says. "It has indeed been…how many thousand years? Who is the young lad? I've felt him traverse the continent many times."

"He is my Avatar." Grima nods. "And responsible for my…renewed control."

"I see. I am glad." The old man stands. "Naga, Medeus, it's good to see you two as well."

"Hello, Sage." Naga!Tiki bows politely. "I'm afraid I have been remiss in my visitations."

"How's it hangin'? Medeus!Robin says with a cheery wave.

"It's been over four thousand years since we've last gathered." The Sage replies. "It's hangin' pretty low." He laughs. "You have changed, Medeus."

"I have friends to thank for that." Medeus smirks. "As well as a new philosophy on immortality."

The Rainbow sage laughs again. "What brings you?" He asks the three of them. "We were three thousand years apart at the very least."

"Grima's Avatar has questions for you, but for us…there is a point of my concern for me." Naga says. "You are aware that the mana stream has been disturbed lately."

"Is that what they're calling it?" The Rainbow sage strokes his pale white beard. "I am certainly aware that the flow of magic has been odd, yes. Is it building up to a new peak?"

"The Phoenix Empire has a budding but extremely skilled group of people dedicated to monitoring magic and learning from it." Naga says. "It's referred to as the Department of Theoretical Magic Research. Apparently, they've been monitoring the flow of magic power and have found it to be rising; the next estimated peak will be in a thousand years."

The Sage blinks in surprise. "I'm impressed they can look so far forward, but…a thousand? Only?"

Naga shrugs. "Of course, it is called 'theoretical' for a reason. Their information is scant and has many errors."

"The world fractured last time there was a peak, yeah?" Grima says. "Think it's going to be as bad this time around?"

"If someone is dumb enough to summon something like that Fomortiis again, then yes." Medeus huffs. "Good lord, the vibrations after that thing came back out was insane."

Grima gave him a blank look. "The only reason you know about any of that is because of the DTMR. Why you acting like you knew about it all along?"

"Because my avatar is awesome." Medeus replies with a grin. "And therefore I'm awesome."

"I feel like your chain of logic is reversed somehow." Grima sighs. "Regardless…Sage, should we be worried about the faster rate of spiking? If the trend continues, this world won't have enough time to rebuild after a reset."

"It might be worth it if the resets happen faster, but with less intensity." Naga notes. "Limit the damage to a minimum, as they say."

"Why did the last one happen?" Medeus asks. "I mean, I was kind of around for that, but…" He mimes having his throat slit. "Things happened."

"To put it simply, there weren't enough Lodestars." Naga says. "All we had was Marth, _maybe_ Celica for Doma, the prince in Jugdral, and the prince in Magvel."

"Magvel prince was a fake, no?" Grima scratches his neck. "And Julius of Jugdral only came around two thousand years after the last collapse, he doesn't count."

Naga nods. "Correct. Celica also rejected Doma, which would disqualify her as well. In other words, we only had one Lodestar in the entire world when that collapse happened."

"And don't sell Marth short." Medeus grins. "The boy kept the entire continent from regressing entirely."

"And Celica, blessed or not, kept Valentia functioning." Naga nods. "Pity about her boyfriend, though."

Grima opens laughs at that. "It's been three thousand years and you _still_ don't like that guy?"

"I am not obligated to like the people I help." Naga sniffs. "Goodness, it's as if you think we divine dragons can't lie."

"And here I thought I was the evil one." Grima grins. "Back on topic though: currently we have three lodestars, would that be enough to prevent the next collapse?"

"Why do you want to prevent it?" Medeus asks. "It's the natural order of a cycle to return to the beginning."

"Because I want to see him rise further, and I cannot see a thousand years as having anywhere close to enough time." Grima says. "I understand that he is not the first to create an empire based on Outrealm technology, and likely will not be the last, but still…"

The Sage thinks it over. "Currently, there are three more candidates on this land." He says. "I believe you have already met one of them?"

"One of…we've met a lot of people, Sage." Grima says. "That's a bit vague." He shrugs. "Understandable, I suppose."

"Yes…a Lodestar must reach out to their deity willingly." Naga nods. "Yours just happened to take a surprisingly short route." She adds to Grima.

"Hey, the dude was out of options." Grima says. "What else could he do?" He does some math. "We'll have six if the three candidates pan out, yeah?"

"Five." The Sage corrects him. "Two of them are candidates for the same avatar."

Medeus's interest is piqued. "And who would that be?" He asks.

"That is currently unknown." The Sage says. "I've always felt as if there was another power seeping into this land, but I have yet to find its source. It's apparently coming from the Great Chasm, but I cannot say more than that."

"The chasm, huh…?" Medeus echoes. "Sounds like fun. Let's go check it out later."

"Last time we went it didn't seem like anything was there." Grima says. "I'm sure it hasn't changed since then."

"We'll keep it under consideration." Naga says. "Should we let our avatars know about this?"

"To what end?" Grima yawns. "It's a thousand years. For them, it might as well be an eternity. Who knows if they would even continue to be our avatars at that point?"

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

 **So, how much of that did you hear?**

All of it. The two girls don't know anything?

 **Aye.**

How come?

 **They have their own souls independent of their avatars. You don't.**

…because I made the contract when I was dead, yeah?

 **Yep. Well, it does mean that I can't hide information from you, so that's something.**

Mhm. What is this Lodestar thing?

 **Ever heard of the term before?**

I've seen Einherjar!Marth being referred to as one, but that's about it.

 **I see. What you heard was about the general idea: a Lodestar is a person who have, willingly or not, become an anchor for the magic that's flowing within the planet.**

O….kay?

 **It's not necessary to become a formal avatar to become a Lodestar, though that is how it happens mostly.**

…O…kay? More okay? Less okay? How okay is this? Who's Celica?

 **A priestess in Valentia. She was a part of a sub-conflict following Marth's story.**

So…FE Gaiden, then. Why do I not remember a Celica? More importantly, who's this Duma dude?

 _We have always remembered her as 'Cecilia'._

 **Mila's brother and fellow divine dragon. He was remembered as a war god back in his day.**

…And he was operational in Valentia? Why didn't he come kick our asses?

 **It's a little hard to do that while dead.**

Doesn't seem to stop the Risen any.

 **Yes, but they're a special breed.**

Mm…fine. He's not coming back, is he?

 **He might? A thousand years and a magic spike can make a lot of weird shit happen.**

Speaking of magic spikes. The fuck?

 **A planet's magic, much like its atmosphere, is a mostly enclosed system. In this case, magic flows into, and out of, rifts within the world space.**

Rifts.

 **The more stable versions of them are the Outrealm Gates. Since you're aware that the physical reality is a sham comprised of multitudes upon multitudes of atoms, why do you assume that the magical reality is somehow more coherent?**

Uh…fair, I guess. That branch of physics isn't something I'm too familiar with. Still, why a spike, and why the regularity?

 **We don't know. All we know is that there is an upsurge in magical power, and that the power causes events to occur around the globe in a rather unfortunate way.**

Well, shit, I guess. Though if it's a thousand years in the future then there's not much we can do about it now besides just studying it.

 **Were you unaware that this department was established?**

I…knew we had a department focused on the theoreticals of magic, but since I had more concrete problems (and they didn't have anything to show for months on end) I just forgot about them.

Anyways, a thousand years is a ways off, and the Empire may not be around by then.

 **You're not surprised by that idea.**

The mix of technology levels in the countries kind of gave it away. Bernion has nylon stockings, for example. Really overpriced stockings of dubious quality that we could _totally_ supplant in terms of market share, but they had 'em nevertheless. Anyways, this talk of magic analysis's got me interested. I'll push up the OSS plan for now. Should I tell Robin and Tiki any of this?

 **If Naga and Medeus wants to, let them. Otherwise, keep quiet.**

Whaaaat

Dude you know I can't keep secrets from either of my wives.

 **I know, but it will be fun seeing you try.**

Ugh.

…

Oh, before I forget. After the three dragons talked with the Rainbow sage we (Me, Tiki, Robin) got to talk with him a little too about the vapor zombies.

He was…pensive, about them. He knows what we're talking about but is unwilling to say more about the subject. I think this counts as an instance of "it'd be really nice if we knew a few things BEFORE (insert some tragic event in the future)" flag, but…I also get the feeling that he's told us all he knows about the situation, and all he knew is preciously little.

Anyways, analysis of the mayo golem zombie thingies has yielded no results beyond that they are killable, so at the very least we know that part.

…

[8 months pass]

…

 _Why is today important? 8 months seem like a strange time to stop a time skip._

Today is the day that the Academy of Nestra is finished! It's been a long, arduous journey of watching automated 3d printers do hard labor 24/7.

The Academy was actually a pretty low priority, because a) the rest of the city needed to be built first to get rid of the stupid tents and b) getting enough teachers to move to Nestra from the more established areas (like Akanea or Elibe). Either way, the academy is slated to offer a spate of classes from agriculture to magic to rocket science.

The rocket science class has like, four people in it, and everyone's a PhD from somewhere on Earth, it's pretty neat. It's more of a group discussion session than a real class, but still, neat.

 _And the two princes from Nohr and Hoshido?_

Leo's taking some kind of agricultural course to see about growing stuff, and Takumi _barely_ passed the entrance exam into magic-based construction. One of them is more useful in a medieval environment than the other.

So…yes, Nestra's reconstruction is finished (though it's still drastically underpopulated), it has a connection to Izumo, and both sides are happy. We're getting a lot of Nohr/Hoshido foot traffic now, nd I like to believe that the Phoenix Empire is singlehandedly responsible for repairing relations between the two countries, though so far their relationship is more frosty than violence.

Anyways…what next?

 _Vacation?_

Vacation! We (family) have a few days off at Summer Scramble Anna's resort. It's a little weird to be vacationing off-world given how many different locales we have access to, but we need a break and the Dragon's Gate is conveniently close to Elibe, which…we have to be nearby in the next two weeks or so, so…yeah. It works out.

The reason why we're all in Elibe is because Nino wants to throw a party to celebrate the incoming time of peace, because she put like a ten-foot-long metal rod into Nergal's body. I don't remember how long the rod actually was, and frankly that's not very important because we cremated the fucker shortly after. Anyways, The Mouth is doing well, so Nino wants to bring out some festivities to kind of make the point.

…Also, and, uh, off the record? Sacaean Nomads have been kinda…sorta…edging in on our (her) turf, and she wants to send a message. She requested for a low-pass flyby of our available VF-1s for showmanship. We now have about ten VF-1 pilots qualified for taking those birds into the air and only four actual aircraft built and ready.

This is not unusual, I don't think, and that's kind of a problem. All of our pilots are Outrealmers, and we have no local pilots in the pipeline, and Bubba won't let me nab new ones.

 _Uh._

Nah's an Outrealmer too. She's from an Outrealm that's basically just this world but some years down the line, but an Outrealm all the same. Given our current estimates, it would take us around five years to train a new pilot from zero to the point where they can do everything the VF-1 asks of them without crashing. I feel like that's a bit too long, but years of anime has taught me that if we put newbies inside planes, many of them will die in a disappointing fireball before one of them become the storyline lynchpin who is able to murder everyone else.

Unlike those animes, these planes have to be paid for, and they don't come cheap.

Anyways, all this boils down to us needing some kind of intermediary unit to make full use of our large pool of Pegasus knights and get them used to dashboard flying. They already know the basics of aerial, three-dimensional combat, so it would be just a matter of getting them used to things.

 _Why can't they be trained as pilots?_

We're trying, but the military is volunteer-only and the amount of girls willing to give up their Pegasi in favor of a metal murder machine is pretty small.

In any case, DAES and DEEP are looking a flying motorcycle-like thing that can be used as an intermediary platform. We have a fair number of anime nerds in our departments, so they'll probably come out with something interesting before the year is up.

…

[3rd Person Camera, The Mouth, Some Days Later]

…

"The Mouth" was one half of a city situated on the river border between Bern and Sacae. The city, a major economic center that also guarded the path into Bern's heartland, also serves as the major seat of the Phoenix's economic and military power in Elibe after it was annexed by the Phoenix Empire. It's advantageous position also forces it into the position of being a gatekeeper of all of Southern Elibe against raiders from Jugdral. Thanks to the Phoenix's influence, the Sacaean half of the city has become, quite literally, the wealthiest city on the continent.

Therefore, Nino's festival is being seen by the other Elibean nations as little more than just a confirmation of a pre-established fact…and a way for them to gauge the strength of the newcomer nation while it flexes its muscles. As such, every major nation made preparations for the eventual festivities.

On a clear morning at the end of the summer months, the city saw a spike of foot traffic from all parts of Elibe and beyond. Nino had made sure that the festival was as fully advertised as possible, and thus foot and boat traffic to the city were at an all-time high. Some of these people were, naturally, spies sent from other countries.

Some of the spies were comparatively less interested in being spies than others. A few of these spies were travelling from the Lycian League via ship.

"Whoa, look at this place, Eliwood!" One such blue-haired 'spy' marvels as the city's port grows larger on the horizon. "It's even more impressive than the last time we've been here!"

"Wasn't that a mere two months ago, Hector?" Eliwood laughs. "Then again, given the subject matter, I won't be the least surprised if it were true." He turns to his wife and brother-in-law. "How do you feel, Ninian, Nils?"

"It'd be nice to give my thanks." Nils says with a huge grin. A shining pendant around his neck catch the sun and glitters nicely. "For many things."

"Indeed." Ninian nods, clasping a hand around her own necklace. "To be able to travel freely between my two homes is like a dream."

"But maaaan." Hector claps Eliwood on his shoulder. "Your in-laws did _not_ like you."

Ninian and Nils, though orphans, had an adopted family (of dragons) on the other side of the Dragon's Gate. Through the help of the Phoenix Empire and their stock of manufactured dragon stones, the two were able to live normally in Elibe as they wished. Also through (rather violent) help of the Phoenix Empire, the Dragon's Gate was seized and stabilized, and a budding relationship was beginning to build between the dragons on the other side and the humans on this side, to the point where a select amount of individuals were allowed to cross the gate and visit to build relations.

"I suppose they had their reasons." Eliwood laughs. "What with me stealing their beloved daughter and all."

"No kidding." Nils says. "Trying to explain away two wars was a rough task."

"Being stolen this time wasn't so bad." Ninian says with a small giggle. She gives Eliwood a kiss on the cheek.

Lilina (Hector's daughter who is 4) sees this display. "Dad." She calls out to him and raises her arms.

Hector willingly pick her up and sit her on his shoulder. Lilina, from this perch, gives Hector a peck on the cheek. She then squeals as Hector replies with an aggressively happy squeeze.

"My daughter is the greatest." Hector declares proudly with Lilina securely seated on his shoulder. "And the cutest!"

"Yes, yes, now let her down before you go over the edge." Farina (Hector's wife) snaps at him. "We're on a boat and she can't swim." Hector was leaning on the railing of the ship.

"I can't swim either." Hector says as if to defend himself. He does put Lilina back down, where she happily ambles off to play with Roy.

"While this is going to be vacation." Eliwood's aged bodyguard reminds them all. "I would like to remind everyone that we are entering Phoenix territory. Discretion is the better part of valor."

"I understand, Marcus." Eliwood nods. "We will control ourselves as needed, and—"

"I control nothing!" Hector declares proudly. "This is my time to rest from the rigors of running Ostia and Caelin, and I intend to make good use of it!"

Marcus looks to Hector's attendant (Oswin) with rather morbid expectations.

Oswin's response is a good-natured shrug. "Lord Hector has been attentive of his duties as the head of the Lycian League. He deserves a day off."

"If Oswin claims as thus then my fears are allayed." Eliwood says with a smile that looks ever so much like a smirk.

"Oh, only if he says it, huh?" Hector grins. "And you were supposed to be my friend."

Their ship docks at the Mouth a little while later. All of them get visitor passes and head into the city without incident.

"Hooo…wow." Hector breathes out. "This place's gotten bigger than the last time we've been here, yeah?"

Which was true. Nino had pooled a substantial amount of available resources to ensure that their side of the Mouth was upgraded according to Phoenix standards, and those upgrades had a dramatic effect on the appearance of the city. The streets were widened to the standards and buildings were upgraded or demolished as necessary. The city, despite being comparatively denser in terms of zoning and structures, felt much more open and well-lit. Nino, in contrast to Ash, had taken a more nuanced and piecemeal approach to upgrading the city, and as such the changes were more gradual and harder to notice.

"This is a little heavier than I expected." Hector says as he observes the crowds of people. "It's a bit easy to get lost right now." He hoists Lilina onto his shoulder. "It may be safe here, but still watch yourselves."

"Don't worry about us, Hector." Eliwood says. "This is one of our few chances to rest. Let's take full advantage of it."

…

[Next Day]

…

A delegation from Bern arrives. Eight people dressed as slightly upper-class merchants enter the port of the Sacaean Mouth via a ferry from the Bern side and get passes to enter amidst much grumbling about traffic.

"Seems they value their security." The oldest member of the group muses once they clear the port of entry. "Quite different from how it was last year." He turns to a fair faced young man. "Prince Zephiel, we are now in potentially hostile territory. Please be aware of your surroundings."

"I will. Thank you, Murdoch." The young man agrees. "However, this is a day of festivities, and I would like to put such worries behind me." He gives his younger sister a pat on her head.

"Aye. Murdoch, you should loosen up a little." Princess Guinevere says with a wide smile. "And have fun for once!"

"My fun involves keeping you two safe." Murdoch says with a wane smile. "A job that seems to be becoming more difficult by the day."

Guinevere did not catch the subtext. "Aww, sorry." She laughs. "I'll be more well behaved in the future, maybe."

Zephiel, on the other hand, did. "Your constant vigilance is appreciated, Murdoch." He says seriously. "But work should not be a focus during play, correct?"

"As you say." Murdoch bows slightly. "As this is easily the safest city in all of Elibe, I can rest safe for once."

Guinevere, now impatient, tugs both of them deeper into the crowd. "Let's go already! There's fun to be had!"

 _Note: At this point, Zephiel is 23 while Guinevere is 12._

The group of two Bern royalty, one General Bodyguard, and five minor noble/attendants sympathetic to Zephiel's faction enjoy their time within the raging colors of the Mouth's festivities. After a fashion, they find themselves near the center of the city. The festivities dull slightly as a low roar begins to sound in the distance.

"What's that sound?" Zephiel asks as he hears that roar. "It's very foreign." He does, however, still pay full attention to the lamb skewer in his hand.

"I heard that the local leadership was going to debut some form of weapon." Murdoch muses. "They've been having issues with Sacean nomads, as expected."

Zephiel blinks in surprise. "The Phoenix of all people is having trouble?"

"They're plagued by a constant shortage of manpower." Murdoch says. "It therefore comes as no surprise that weaknesses in their defenses can form."

Zephiel mulls that statement over. "I see." He eyes the lesser nobles that accompanied him. "I will remember that."

"Good." Murdoch finishes his sandwich. "Though I do confess to be curious about our chances of fighting this new weapon." He cleans his hands. "Their wealth is enviable." He mutters. "It would be in our interest to obtain parts of it."

"Perhaps." Zephiel has a glare in his eyes. "Though it would be far better for us to earn our own happiness rather than simply take from the happiness of others."

"It is as you say." Murdoch bows his head in deference. "I apologize for speaking out of line."

The roar gets louder, and Zephiel notes that the noise seems to be coming from the sky. He looks up and sees a flight of giant metal birds zoom overhead in their full glory. He follows their path over the city and into the open seas with a mix of astonishment and worry.

"Much better for us to earn it ourselves." Zephiel says with a nervous gulp. "Where are they going?"

…

The Phoenix's flight of VF-1s make their flight over the Mouth and head towards the coastal area, where series of training targets float some distance away from the coastline, within clear sight of a growing group of onlookers gathering along the shore.

The onlookers watch as the giant metal birds zoom over the oceans and create plumes of water. After some minutes, the birds finish their training session and zoom away to Traesto's military port (and airstrip). While everyone enjoyed the show, only Outrealmers from eras of common automatic weapons understood what they were looking at.

"If that was their show to dissuade the nomads, then I'm not sure they did their job." Eliwood says in a low tone.

Hector agrees. "Then that's probably not what they were trying to do." He turns to his wife. "When's that flying tournament going to happen?"

Farina looks at the 'watch' on her wrist with a frown. "Soon…?" She doesn't quite understand how it works. "It's supposed to happen when this short thick bar hits 3, and it's only at 2 and a little over."

"Then let's go over there right now." Eliwood offers. "It wouldn't be polite to be late."

"Indeed." Farina says with a deeply smug glance at Hector. "It wouldn't be polite at all."

"Yeah, yeah." Hector grumbles. "I'm never late when it matters, right? So let's not worry about it."

They make their way to the Aerial knight tournament in a different part of the city.

"Ooh, looks like they've already started." Hector observes as two knights clash in the skies. "Hey." He greets one of the workers. "Who's fighting?"

"As the tournament has yet to start, the participants are only here to practice." The helper says.

"Neat." Farina stretches. "I'm gonna go get changed." She puckers her lips at Hector, who dutifully gives her a kiss. "Don't take your eyes off me!"

"Never have, never will." Hector says with a surprisingly suave wink. "Knock 'em dead, darling."

"I believe that's the first time I've ever seen you flirt, Lord Hector." Ninian says, giggling. "It's quite a surprise."

"Yeah?" Hector laughs. "Would you believe me if I said I did it a lot in private?"

"Only with some reservation." Eliwood says, earning him a light punch on the arm. "Oh?" He says, noting a blond man walk up next to Hector.

"Hmm?" Hector notices Eliwood's sudden shift of attention and turn. "Don't I know you?" He asks as soon as he lays eyes on Zephiel.

"Mayhaps." Zephiel replies, a little on guard. "I am Zephiel, the prince of Bern." Normally he would have kept his status hidden, but here…he felt safe enough to let go a little.

"Oh, really?" Hector blinks in surprise. "Big title." He offers his hand with a warm smile. "Hector, marquis of Ostia."

"The pleasure is all mine." Zephiel replies and shakes. "I'm surprised the head of the Lycian League is here as well."

"It ain't just me, man." Hector says without a shred of decorum. "I don't know if you noticed, but a lot of people for the top or near-top brass of Elibe are here."

Zephiel certainly did notice. "That's quite a surprise." He says instead. "It seems everyone is looking for the same thing."

"A preparation for the next war." Hector huffs. "Don't like it, but it has to be done. What's the king up to these days? The rumors aren't making my court any quieter than normal."

 _As expected._ Zephiel thinks with a grimace. "The appearance of the Phoenix is worrying him, and…well, whatever rumors you've heard likely have more than a mere shred of credibility."

 _Shit._ Hector notes in his head. "Great. Just great." He sighs. "I'm glad that you, at least, seem to have your head on straight."

"Thank you." Zephiel says earnestly. "Should I take the reins of Bern, I would love to make it to be as prosperous and as peaceful as this city here." He looks around slowly. "Perhaps it would be best if the king were not man."

"I don't know about that." Eliwood laughs. "The leader of the Phoenix is as hindered by the trappings of man as they come."

"Am I being badmouthed in my own city?" Eliwood hears someone say behind him.

"Hardly, your highness." Eliwood turns to face Ash. "Merely an astute observation." He smiles.

"Good to see you loosen up a little." Ash gives him a handshake and a clap on the shoulder. "How do you like Nino's idea so far, Eliwood?"

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

"It's very…extravagant." Eliwood says with a small bow. "In that sense, she seems to have spent her funds well."

Did she though? As far as I can tell the VF-1 demonstration was a flop. Two of the machines started reporting engine troubles and the other two had issues with their transformation servos, so they had to cut the airshow early. It was good for us to suss out the machines' problems, but uh…yeah. Not great.

"I don't believe we've met before." Tiki says to the Pretty Blonde Man next to Hector. "May I know your name?"

Pretty Blonde Man blushes furiously. "I-I am Prince Zephiel of Bern, I am honored to make your acquaintance." Ah. We've been to Bern's court a few times, but I don't think I've ever spoken with him. He looks like an older version of himself in FE7: good-looking, idealistic, not poisoned.

"I am Tiki of the Phoenix Empire." Tiki says. "Nice to meet you, Prince Zephiel."

I should note that both Tiki and Robin are in swimwear and are attracting a significant amount of attention. That said, it is a festival and swimwear is pretty common, and being Fire Emblem there are quite a number of attractive women roaming around the streets. It helps that this arena is next to the river.

"Hey, Zeffy." Robin greets him cheerily. "How's your dad?" She's been in Bern's court more than both me and Tiki combined.

"As enigmatic as ever." Zephiel is pointedly not looking in their direction. "But I believe he will make some kind of move soon."

Hm. Our reports indicate the same, so it's good to know that this isn't something that's totally coming out of the blue.

 _In what way?_

Lately, we've experienced instances in which Bern headhunters have tried to poach some of our talent into their own countries. Bern's financial compensation for their young nobles have also skyrocketed, and more of them are studying at Traesto/Mouth than before. This is worrying because those nobles are spending almost all of their time trying to figure out better military strategies and equipment.

The idea of the 'gun' is now basically commonplace in Bern, and last I've heard they've begun a mass rollout of a crossbow program to their forces and have greatly increased in geological surveys within Bern territory. I don't know what they're looking for but if it's not some kind of propellent then I'd have seriously lost my touch.

Similarly, Etruria have done much of the same, except they're a little more focused on defensive emplacements and weapons that would be effective within those roles.

Icing on the cake: I've had our surveyors look over Elibe to see what kind resources might turn a tense situation into an actual war scenario, and…

Within Lycia, Laus has the best farmland that isn't in Bern or Etruria.

Also in Lycia, Ostia has rich, untapped deposits of spirit dust.

Sacae (the parts close to Ilia) are high in iron.

The area between Etruria and Bern is _extremely_ propellant rich. By propellant I mean "Things that could be used to make guns".

To put it politely, if there's not going to be a war between the two countries, I will go buy a hat and eat it.

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

While the heads of state worry about the future of the continent, the aerial tournament gets underway. All contestants take to the skies with various colorful swimwear to (in the case of the ladies) loud cheering from the males or (in the case of the guys) louder cheering from the females.

Among the crowd is a pair of newlyweds by the name of Juno and Zealot, both knights of Ilia. With them is a small group of Pegasus knight trainees deemed to have high potential by the Ilian military academy. They were, in effect, on a field trip.

"I'm surprised you're not up there, Lady Juno." Knight Trainee A says. "You're one of the best instructors in Ilia."

"I'm glad for your praise." Juno says. "But sadly, this tournament is leagues ahead of what we see in Ilia." She had tried out (like everyone else in her group) but did not make it past the qualifying rounds. Besides, the tournament format wasn't exactly her style.

The tournament is a 20-person free-for-all, where the last two survivors get to move on to the final round. The last match is a fight between the two remaining survivors. The tournament has 400 competitors in total.

"So everyone here is the cream of the crop?" Knight Trainee B muses. "That's kinda scary."

They watch as, of the current round, only Farina and her green-haired older sister Flora remain in the skies. The two ex-Ilian knights joust in the sky, giving the onlookers a taste of a bout between two aces experienced with the Ilian way of war.

"They're so good." Knight Trainee C says while bouncing with excitement. "How can they be so good?"

The two sisters clash and dive and twirl in a downward spiral, only pulling up while feet away from the river and immediate disqualification. They continue fighting while zooming over the river at top speed, completely unaware of the waves they've kicked up over the onlookers at the arena.

"Two back-to-back wars would do that to a person." Knight Trainee D says. "Also, didn't Flora lose her entire squadron under Count Reglay's service?"

Trainee A shrugs. "That's an accident, right? The Dread Isle was seriously bad news at that time."

"Pretty sure it's still bad news." Trainee B mutters. "Just in a different way."

Finally, Flora gets a small advantage over Farina, and unseat her into the river.

"Were they aware that both of them move onto the semifinals?" Trainee A wonders as Flora gets plucked out of the water.

"It's a pride thing…there she is." Juno says as the next batch of contestants prepare to take to the skies. Among them is a small girl with short blonde hair. With her is a rather inexperienced looking Pegasus. "She's the one we're here for." She alerts the trainees. "Burn her movements into your memory."

"Her?" Trainee A scoffs after one look. "She's so small. I mean, small's good for flying, but there's a limit." She thinks it over. "Why her, if I may ask?"

"She's Amelia, the head of the Phoenix's wing of Griffon Knights." Juno says. "She's basically their ace of aces."

Trainee B can't help but laugh at that. "That's a really pretentious title; so, she's their best, huh? What's a Griffon?"

They watch as all the contestants finish their final checks then take to the skies. Upon the signal to start the round, all other nineteen knights immediately beeline to Amelia and dogpile her.

"Oh that's just not fair." Trainee C observes as Amelia pulls up and makes some distance.

"Well, they need to do about this much to have a chance." Juno observes.

Amelia suddenly dives into her chasers and, with a flurry of action, unseats eight of them in one pass. They all fall into the water one-by-one before being fished out by the tournament helpers. Amelia nearly drop into the river before, in an act that defies gravity, suddenly veer into the sky again and take off.

"Oh my god." Trainee D breathes as Amelia comes around for another round. She watches as the blonde missile skewers her way through all but two more targets. "What the hell is that?!"

The less-than-half remaining contestants all break and run. It doesn't help them.

"She's a poleaxe user." Trainee A observes as Amelia chases down the last target practically right in front of them. "Look at those wide swings. She can't be anything else."

In the timespan of one minute, Amelia had downed nineteen targets and walked away without a scratch. Understandably, the crowd goes wild. Amelia herself lands with a little bit of a hurry: the top of her swimsuit had come undone thanks to her speed and she needed a replacement.

Through the rest of the tournament, the best knights continue to come on top, with the final twenty consisting of, among others, Amelia, Farina, Flora, a pair of knights from Ylisse (Cordelia, Sumia), and a feisty red-head.

When the match begins, everyone basically devolves into their own one-on-one duels.

"There's so many good fights I don't know which one to watch!" Trainee A yells excitedly, her eyes locked on the Cordelia-Sumia battle. "How is everyone so good?!"

"All of them are forged through the fires of war." Zealot observes. "They have that glow about them."

"It may be more than just war that made these girls happen." Juno agrees. "Look, even Amelia is being pushed back."

Amelia was being chased hard by a coalition of two other Phoenix knights.

"I'm more interested in the redhead." Trainee A says. "Where'd she come from? That form is totally new to me."

All of them watch as the unknown redhead face off against Farina and, with great difficulty, get unseated and plunge into the water.

"She's pretty good, all things considered." Juno observes as the redhead gets fished out. "Where's she from? Can we recruit her?"

"Doesn't look like it." Zealot says. "See the ones around her? They're Phoenix Bodyguards."

Juno does indeed see the men in black suits milling about the red-headed girl. "That would imply that she's someone important." She agrees. "Pah."

"What, we're not good enough for you?" Trainee A pretends to sound hurt.

"No, not for a while yet." Juno replies with equal blitheness. "It will be some years before you lot become acceptable knights."

Trainee B grumbles at this. "And all this is because the Phoenix showed up."

…

[1st Person Camera, As the competition ends]

…

Final Winner: our resident ace of aces Amelia! I'm honestly a bit surprised, because from a pure talent standpoint Amelia is…

…erm, not exemplary? Like, she's good, but she's not…like, Cordelia-good. The final match was indeed between Amelia and Cordelia, mind you. The reason why our dear Ammy won is because she internalized the cruise engine spells, so she basically can give herself super speed at the drop of a hat. It is cheating, and I _love_ it.

Anyhoo…I noticed, and am not surprised by, the amount of recruiting that seems to be happening…have happened, at this festival. I'm…cautiously optimistic, about this. There's an inherent danger in having people leave, because some of them do have their own dreams of establishing their own 'Alternate Universe' tropes and their own isekai…things. I know there's at least one dude who sold himself out to Bern for a pittance in order to bring them guns in exchange for his own harem.

…Props to him for knowing what he wants, I guess? If things start to get serious with Bern I have a sniper team with his name on it.

 _And we know about this guy because…_

Because he applied for a job with DAES and did not meet the mark. The dude's knowledge came entirely from videogames which…y'know, doesn't model guns too well. If he's not willing to think more abstractly about the problem of implementing guns (and I get the sinking feeling he won't) he's going to end up in a Bern prison.

…on an entirely unrelated note.

 _Currently, we are at the competition site watching the workers clean up._

In front of me is a small girl with long purple hair and a rather lost expression. Is she lost? She's looking around like she's lost. Is that Lilina?

…No, Lilina has blue hair and, more importantly, she's approaching the lost child along with her dear old pops.

"Hello! Are you lost?" Lilina asks the small girl. She's very sweet.

The small girl shrinks away from her in response, so…she's a little sheltered? Why's she out alone? We're pretty high on security here, but being alone is still kinda…not great.

Hector crouches to be as eye-to-eye as he could to the girl. "What's your name, kid?" He asks with surprising warmness.

"Sanaki." The ooh my lord. The little girl says. "I am Sanaki, the nex…nex…" She seems to be having some trouble with words.

 _Note: Sanaki is four._

"Sanaki, eh?" Hector pats the girl softly on her head. "Do you want a little help? Do you know where you need to go?"

"Dad, she looks like me, doesn't she?" Lilina asks…I don't see the resemblance, but sure.

Hector strokes his chin. "Now that you mention it, she does." He grins. "Let's get your lost little sister to where she needs to go, alright?"

Per the norm for Hector, Sanaki doesn't get a chance to refuse as he scoops her up with one arm and places her on his shoulder. He puts Lilina on his other shoulder and I should note that Hector is _tall_.

"Let me down!" Sanaki says/cries while Lilina giggles and laughs madly. I think this is basically child abduction, no? Let's interfere.

"Yo, Hector!"

"Oh, if it isn't his highness!" Hector says upon noticing me. "As you can see, I've picked up a new passenger."

"I noticed." I say with a small sigh. "Where are you taking her?"

"To the nearest guard station." Hector says. "I figure if there's someone looking for her, they'd be there, yeah?"

That…would be true, yes. "Sure." I'm surprised Hector noticed them. The stations tend to be somewhat sheltered from view.

In any event, Sanaki seems to have calmed down now that I'm around (for some reason) and we kidnap her to the nearest authorities. Notably, there *wasn't* someone looking for her.

Sanaki, I should note, is the future Empress of Bergnion in Tellius. She's here on a special invite of a sort, and her presence is basically diplomatic sugar so we can make more inroads into Tellius in the future (as well as be able to help her in any future shenanigans that may occur).

She came here along with a select amount of Begnion senators, and it's very telling that none of them seemed to be looking for her. We know this because we bugged every last one of them and know their positions in real time. Of the eight senators who came to Elibe with their little four-year-old future empress, four of them are in a strip club, two are in a brothel, and the remaining two are following a bunch of Ilian Pegasus knights with worrying closeness.

Begnion needs a more diverse senate, methinks.

Anyways…

…After some time (hours on end) Hector kidnaps Sanaki back to their hotel with her permission. In the time they spent together, Sanaki has become friends with Lilina and the two are…pretty sister-like, I'm not gonna lie. They're cute together, and I think Sanaki could do with some more friends her age. I'll see if we can establish some kind of…I dunno, pen pal service between Bergnion and Ostia.

…Either way, I think things are going well. We still have growing pains, but everything is trending…well? I guess? There are no major problems on the horizon and we're finally in a state of relative peace.

Now that I've said that, what's going to be the biggest emergency in one month's time?

…

[Undisclosed Location Between Nohr and Hoshido]

…

Garon and Sumeragi are sharing a drink.

"It's been a while, old friend." Garon says. "My lord, this is strong." He wrinkles his brow at the strong sake.

"Isn't it? It's the best of Hoshido." Sumeragi chuckles. "Though it is rather strong, even for me." He puts down his little saucer-like cup. "Is it finally that time, Garon?"

"Aye." Garon's voice has a note of sadness. "I can hear his call louder than ever, and I fear that I will not be able to shun it for much longer."

"Then we are of the same mind." Sumeragi sighs. "In a way, this is a blessing." He says. "Better it to be us than our children."

Garon nods with a wry smile. "Indeed…and more than before there exists an outside force."

"The Phoenix." Sumeragi nods. "However, are they capable?"

"From Xander's reports, they are a strength like none other." Garon says. "Some of their agents work for our court as royal retainers as well."

"The three special ones?" Sumeragi gets a nod in reply. "Hopefully they'll be the ones who can help steer Nohr in this upcoming conflict."

"And hopefully Hoshido still has its shield." Garon agrees. "Nohr can be sacrificed if it means a better future, far away from him."

"When it starts, we'll begin leaking information to the Phoenix, as much as we can, without having him notice." Sumeragi promises. "I don't know if our shield will be able to divert his attention, but it will not be without effort."

The two descend into a comfortable silence.

"…It's really starting, isn't it." Garon says quietly. "The next Offering."

"…Aye." Sumeragi's reply is soaked with a sense of defeat. "And there is nothing we can do to stop it." He downs his drink.

"To the 'glory' of Anankos." Garon says, then does the same. "The next we meet, we will be enemies."

"I pray to remember you on my last day." Sumeragi clutches Garon's hand. "And not the you that I will be forced to remember."

"The feel is mutual, my friend." Garon says firmly. "May our children remember the future as it should be."

…

[1st Person Camera, About Eight Days Later]

…

Aaaaand Bern's in a civil war.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

Aaaand we're finally getting to the actual game events! (Kinda, sorta).

Minor tangent: I met someone on FE Heroes a while back with the 'Ash' moniker and Grima!Robin as the lead unit. I'm going to believe that it is completely not a coincidence that something like that exists.


	8. Part 6: Not Quite Triples

{ === + === }

Oookay. So. Where do I start.

As of yesterday at approximately 0900 hours, the factions of the Crown Loyalists and the Prince Loyalists have engaged in open battle in the streets of Bern. I'm…

…well, ok, let's take this step by step.

There's a period of eight days between…uh, well, the events of the festival as I covered it and now. The festival itself lasted a grand total of five days, so…

On Day Five, Zephiel's party went home to Bern. The details are spotty for various reasons but the gist of things seems to be that King Hartmund poisoned him in some way. There are lot of conflicting stories about what happened, but since poisoning seems to be the most common rumor floating around we'll consider that to be canon until proven otherwise.

On Day Six, Zephiel's second-in-command, General Murdoch, declared that the Prince had succumbed to…something. Again, we'll just call it poisoning for the lack of a better term. Prince Zeffy, I should note, did not die from whatever was ailing him. (We know this after the fact, though…at the time it was kinda worrying.)

On Day Seven, Zephiel had a planned funeral(?) and a large quantity of the state's nobles had visited to pay their respects…all but the biggest noble, and this was a problem. The official story is that there was a funeral, but I think I'm not alone in thinking that a prince's funeral would take longer than 24 hours to plan and orchestrate.

Either way…

On Day Eight, Zephiel's faction decided to make it clear that the cause of their prince's "death" was none other than the King Himself, and declared a state of open rebellion, and that was…what, an hour ago? At this point literally no other outside faction apart from the Phoenix (Fuck Yeah Radios™) is aware of what's going on in the capital.

…

So, canonically, between the events of Fire Emblem 7 and 6, Prince Zephiel is poisoned but recovers, and he uses this attempt to set a trap for King Hartmund by pretending to have a funeral for himself. At this funeral, while Hartmund views the open casket, Zeffy rises from the dead and shivs the man right in the kidneys, thus taking over the throne. How this is seen as anything other than regicide is beyond me, but I suppose Zephiel's party would have made preparations to move all the other factions in Bern to his side.

Here, however, Hartmund did not attend the funeral(?), thus kind of making that whole plan worthless. Instead, the dude's out somewhere (we don't know where) which allows Zeffy to make a bid for the throne while its occupant is out of town.

…Also worth noting: Zeffy left a trusted adjutant of his faction—Melady, Miledy?—and she's currently acting on behalf of his orders. Namely, she's trying to round up some mercenaries to go to his assistance, because this is gonna last a while.

…Hmm.

 **So the big question is: are you going to interfere?**

Well…having a Bern de-fanged by a protracted civil war will be good for us in the long run…if we were not worried about Etruria also making a bid for territory. From what I've gathered of the pre-Phoenix situation, everyone was worried about Bern's Wyvern Riders and generally avoided antagonizing the greatest military force on the continent.

Now though, the introduction of low training weapons like crossbows and (soon to be) firearms means that there's going to be a paradigm shift on army composition, and a sky of expensively trained knights start to look reeal bad next to a wave of dudes with missile weapons.

Plus, if we could get on Bern's good side, we could possibly get Zeffy to back the fuck off if he actually decides to declare his FE6 war. It's also worth noting that, since Melady

…oh that's a good point. Melady is one of Guinevere's attendants, so if she's here then that means Zeffy's keeping Guinevere at Traesto, probably to keep her out of the fighting. As far as I know there wasn't an official asylum request (or at least Nino hasn't told me) so Guinevere is here just as a tourist rather than a diplomat.

Currently we have a delay order on all mercenary groups operating from Traesto. I won't stop any groups that want to pitch in, but at the very least I want to see how the situation develops before we throw in our chips on one side or the other.

…

…

Over the next few days, information in Bern becomes more finalized, and the rest of Elibe learns about the ongoing civil war. We've gotten a clearer picture on the situation.

Let's see.

Zeffy's been planning this for a while. Once he's declared his intent to replace the king, all of his factional troops and allies rose up in their respective cities and the scope of the fighting has increased.

However, the Wyvern Knights of Bern, its largest military group, is mostly still loyal to Hartmund. Zeffy has one wing of knights (Murdoch's) and two parade units (Zeffy and Guinevere's respective royal guards) making a grand unit total of around sixty knights. Hartmund has the rest, which is a number substantially bigger than sixty. I think he's overestimated the support he has with the military.

Our position is still wait and see, because the problem is still ballooning.

Oh, and: it was not a funeral, but a royal summon. The idea being that if Hartmund attended, he would be accused of poisoning the prince, and if he didn't, he would be accused of treason. The…it's a bit tenuous, not gonna lie, which is probably why support for Zeffy is rather lackluster.

…

 _At the end of the month._

…

Fan is now brown. I REPEAT: FAN IS NOW BROWN.

…Or not, I don't really know at the moment.

Etruria just announced their intent to take and hold the pseudo-neutral territory between them and Bern. This is in response to Bern's steadily ballooning civil war and their inability to continue to project power into that particular region.

The reason is pretty simple, though it's ominous. The area has material that can be used as propellant, which…y'know, means that Etruria is likely close or very close to fielding firearms.

It's a little sad to have this lesson hammered home. In FE6, Etruria was the ally to Roy and the Lycian army…but the reality on the ground is that they are Bern's rival first and Good Guys second. Depending on how this civil war plays out, it's entirely likely that we'll be fighting Etruria, not Bern, in the near future.

Balls, I say.

…Either way, our attention is now shifted to Elibe and Jugdral. Traesto will now be reinforced and garrisoned. Stars, Nino's old unit, will be moved there as well (they're currently in Magvel). The Bern's side aside, we'll be establishing a patrol zone a hundred miles out from the outermost walls, and all incursions into the region will be dealt with through firepower if necessary.

Likewise, the importance of our bases on the Dread Isle and on Jugdral will also be expanded. We need fallback positions and locations to evacuate manpower and materiel if things take a turn for the worse.

…This means we might have to begin taking over Jugdral. The tribal combat situation on the continent makes it really hard to predict exactly what will happen once we start militarizing, so establishing a safe zone on the continent will make everything better.

All of this means that we (me, Robin, Tiki) are now focusing all of our time in Elibe and Jugdral. Hoo boy.

…We also need to expand recruitment too, ugh. So much stuff to do.

…

[3rd Person Camera, Nestra]

…

Owing to the strength of the Phoenix's communications network, Elibe's troubles and the potential expansion into Jugdral were the talk of the city. One such group of talkers sat around a small coffee table within the Nestran Academy grounds.

"You thinking about going over to Jugdral?" One of the students ask the group. "There's good money to be made as a Phoenix soldier."

"Meh." Student B shrugs. "It's so far away." She bats her eyelashes as the third student of the group. "What do you think, Takumi?"

"Mm?" Takumi thinks about it for a bit. "Probably not. I'm not too keen on going to another nation just to kill people."

"Besides, we've only just entered the academy. No point backing out right now." The fourth student of the group (Leo) says. "We should focus on why we're here first."

"Well, yeah." Student A shuffles in his seat. "But it's important to think about what the world's going to be like in five years or so, and I'm sure those continents will still be in trouble at that point."

"If the Phoenix's Emperor doesn't get to it first." Takumi says. "Raise your hand if you think he's going to join in." All four of them do. "Figures. Still, you've seen the requirements for becoming a Phoenix Regular, yeah?"

"Mhm." Student B squeezes her eyes shut (she's trying to be adorable). "Why is the bar so high? I could go back to Hoshido like I am now and become a Samurai in no time flat!" She makes some symbol with her hand. "Terms and conditions apply."

"Where does that statement come from?" Student A wonders. "Is it an Outrealm thing?"

"Prolly." Student B grins. "It's so interesting watching Outrealmers get into fights over weird stupid things."

As if to punctuate that point, two Outrealm novice magic students get into a minor fight over something similarly minor some two tables down.

 _They just wanted an excuse to throw spells at each other. The dispute is over if attending Harry Potter's Hogwarts is considered a tax-deductible expense for muggle families._

The four students wander through some other topics before Takumi glances at a very Outrealm wristwatch on his arm.

"We should get going." Takumi says suddenly. "They're coming to visit today."

"Yeah." Leo stows his book. "We'll see you later."

The 'they' Takumi was referring to were the Nohrian royal children and the Hoshidan royal children. Both parties had entered Nestra and were currently face to face in front of the great library in the center of the city.

"Oh my." Camilla was the first to notice the Hoshidan party among the streets of the city. "It seems that we're not the only ones here."

"To no surprise, I imagine." Xander says. "Remember to be polite."

"I am never impolite." Camilla says. "But we'll see how this goes."

"Oh?" Ryoma notices Xander and company. "Good morning." He says stiffly, but without any hostile intent. "Fancy seeing you here."

"The feeling is mutual." Xander rises and shakes Ryoma's hand. "I assume you are here to see Prince Takumi?"

Ryoma nods. "And you Prince Leo, I imagine. If they're both attending the academy, then should we go together?"

"I'd like that very much." Camilla smiles warmly, her eyes locked onto the red-headed Princess Hinoka. "It'd be a good time to get to know you all."

"Y-yeah." Hinoka is uncomfortable. "That'd be nice." She leans over to Sakura. "Is it just me, or is she eyeing me real hard?" She nervously waves back at Camilla.

"It's…well, not just your imagination." Sakura says softly, then bows. "It's nice to meet you all."

"Hey, Sakura!" Elise waves enthusiastically before charging in for a hug. "Long time no see!"

"Elise!" Sakura returns the hug with a little bit of embarrassment. "Hello!"

"As expected of the youngest princess, huh?" Ryoma smiles to himself. "Shall we?"

…

The two parties, following individual directions given by Takumi and Leo, follow those directions with the expectation that they would, at some point, split and go their separate ways.

"So…" Ryoma says slowly as the two parties stand before the same apartment complex. "Should I be worried?"

"Leo did mention that it was a style of living arrangement not unlike a barracks." Xander muses. "And I wouldn't put it past the Emperor to put both of them in the same space."

"Oh my." Camilla cooes. "It would be interesting to seem them living under the same roof, right?" She pokes Hinoka in the cheek.

"The idea of 'personal space' isn't a word in your dictionary, is it?" Hinoka grumbles. Inwardly, her mind races at the progressively lewder options that could happen between the two princes. She's that kind of person. "What do you think they're doing right now, Sakura?" She asks slyly.

"I can see Leo studying." Sakura giggles.

Xander has a slight smile. "We'll find out in a moment."

The two princes were indeed living in the same apartment block. Hinoka's mind goes into overdrive and her face turns mildly pink.

"Excuse us!" Xander calls out and knocks on the door.

"It's unlocked!" Leo calls back while inside. "We're a touch busy at the moment!"

Hinoka can't quite take much more of it, to Camilla's increasing amusement.

Xander opens the door and sees…a very well-lit, spacious apartment. The main entrance of the apartment building leads into the kitchen and living area. A hallway facing the main entrance leads deeper into the apartment, where the two bedrooms (plus bathrooms) exist. To save on space, there does not exist a shower or bathtub (bathing is communal).

Xander in particular sees a spread of meats, multicolored vegetable plates, and fruits of all kinds spread out on a trio of tables pushed together in the living room. Leo is busy mixing together something while his hands glow with the telltale signs of frost. Takumi's busy preparing a Lobster.

Elise has stars in her eyes: this was a better spread than most royal banquets!

 _She tends to be relegated to the kid's table._

"Welcome!" Takumi calls out to the lobster. "As you can see we're a little busy, so take a seat! We're almost done!" He's working side by side Leo.

"Leo, you can cook?" Elise asks with pure innocence.

"Living here means you have to learn it." Leo replies. "Else you pay for someone else to cook for you and that gets expensive." He wasn't about to admit that the major reason was because he wasn't about to let Takumi show him up.

"Best thing about this place is that they always have a lot of different kinds of food." Takumi finishes preparing the Lobster and gets to cooking it. "So there's a lot of room to experiment."

"What's that?" Elise stares at Leo's bowl and its milky, misty white contents. "It looks cold."

"It's better when it's cold." Leo takes a spoon and scoops out some of the ice cream for Elise. "Try it."

Elise, of course, immediately sticks the entire contents of the spoon into her mouth and then promptly gets brain freeze.

"You'd think she would have learned after the first time." Camilla sighs.

"But it's so delicious!" Elise says and reaches for the ice cream again, except Leo's keeping the contents away from her. "Give it!"

"It's dessert for everyone." Leo says. "And it's not yet completed."

"I'll help." Sakura offers. "Though I'm not sure how much assistance I can be."

"Don't mind it." Takumi waves her off with a laugh. "You've never cooked back at home, yeah? Sit and enjoy yourself! We'll be done in a jiffy."

"So he says." Ryoma chuckles. "Sit, Sakura. Let Takumi treat us."

"Y-yes, big brother." Sakura sits, feeling a bit uncomfortable. She sees Xander's eyes on her and shy away.

"Still…it's strange that us two parties would find ourselves in a place like this." Xander notes. "Strange, but a welcome change from what the court would want."

"Indeed." Ryoma nods. "I greatly appreciate the opportunity to understand the leadership of Nohr without the need to cross arms." He, somewhat sheepishly, uncrosses his arms.

"And _I,_ " Camilla leans forward and eyes Sakura. "would _love_ to get to know you better."

"U-uhm. Um…" Sakura's so flustered she goes into 'rehearsed speech' mode. "I-it's nice to meet you. I am Princess Sakura of the Hoshidan Kingdom and I'm in training to be a priestess. I love sewing and embroideries and—"

"Easy." Ryoma gently puts his hand on her head. "She's not going to eat you."

Camilla would have made a joke about doing precisely that, but figured that it would make a poor impression. "I merely tease." She laughs openly, her alluring sense completely gone. "Apologies if I'm making you uncomfortable."

As the conversations continue, Hinoka really only had one thought. Ultimately, she could not contain it for too long and had to give it voice to Sakura's ear. "So…are we not mentioning Takumi's flower apron?" He had a bright pink apron with a bouquet of wildflowers embroidered on its front.

(He made it himself.)

Sakura rather liked how it looked on Takumi. "I think it suits him."

Hinoka didn't object. Instead, she retreats into herself to write the next manuscript concerning her brother and her brother's new best friend(?). It veers into some strange territories.

Soon enough, the lunch is served. Two tables were pushed together so they could properly present the wide spread of colorful veggies, radiant greens, steaming bowls of rice, Literal Racks of Barbeque Ribs, many other smaller side dishes, and, of course, the glistening red lobster in the middle.

"Oh my goodness." Camilla whistles. "You two could give the court cooks something to think about."

"Amieer?" Leo thinks. "I'm pretty sure I've seen her around the culinary classes here."

"Wouldn't surprise me. This place has tons of books on different cooking techniques here." Takumi says with excitement. "Some of them very closely resemble Hoshidan fare, as a matter of fact." He hangs up his apron. "Well, anyways, eat!"

…

…

"So, Takumi." Xander asks him as the extravagant lunch winds down. "What are you learning here?"

"A form of magic synthesis." Takumi replies readily. "Check this out." He extends his hands as if to draw a bow, and beam of energy stretches between his two hands in the shape of an arrow. "Cool, huh?" He grins.

Ryoma has a slightly furrowed brow. "And, of course, if I may ask the same of Prince Leo?"

"I'm currently forming an experiment on the interactions between tomatoes and the Nohrian climate." Leo replies with practice. "If the results are good, then we may take the first steps on resolving Nohr's consistent food shortage."

"Very admirable." Ryoma nods with a none-too-discrete side glance at Takumi.

Takumi squirms. "My synthesis can be used in more ways than one, too." He mumbles without making eye contact with Ryoma. "We'd get tools for everyone."

Leo frowns. He's known Takumi for long enough to know that the man was not the kind that responded positively to being compared. "I've gotten a lot of technical help from Takumi." He says. "He's a natural genius for experimenting."

Ryoma's known Takumi for much longer than Leo has, and would like to give his baby brother the recognition that he so obviously deserves…but at the moment, his position as the next leader of Hoshido was winning out. "I hope you are dedicating yourself to your studies with the same passion as you are to your culinary arts." He says severely.

Takumi very visibly flinches at that comment. The mood at the table gets tense.

"Speaking of studies." Leo says, both to break the tension and because he was watching the clock. "We better get going, Takumi."

"Uh…" Takumi looks at the clock. "Y-yeah." The time properly registers in his head. "Oh, shit!" He bounds over to a window and slams it open. "Oh my god we're going to be so late." He puts a hand to his mouth and lets out a sharp whistle. Before anyone could ask, a bird-like shrill rang in reply.

Everyone who's not Leo lets out some kind of response as a large, shimmering, magnificent bird descends to the window and allows Takumi to rub its neck.

"He's befriended a Kinshi?" Sakura breathes. "B-but…they're super rare…" She and Elise both rush to the window to get a better look.

"Takumi has a way with animals. They all trust him." Leo says as the two of them clamber on the back of the large, rainbow-colored bird. "Apologies, but we have class and caN'T"

The bird zooms into the air as soon as Leo hops on and the rest of his sentence is lost to the wind.

Everyone else watches the empty open window for a little while longer. Elise goes "That's so cool!" and jumps up and down with Sakura's arm firmly in her grasp. It hurts a little.

"Aren't you a bit harsh on him?" Xander asks Ryoma as the slight shock wears off. "His field of study has its merits."

"It is not proper for member of the Hoshidan Royalty to overshow emotion." Ryoma says levelly. Inwardly, he was beyond proud of his baby brother. "We have to show a composed face at all times."

"Except for the girls, it seems." Camilla says wryly as Sakura, Elise, and Hinoka huddle and squee over the rainbow Kinshi. "We are, in a way, not nobles right now." She gestures around at the walls of the apartment.

Ryoma looks at her for a moment, then chuckles. "I suppose that is indeed true. In that case, I shall speak my mind." He meets Xander's gaze for a moment, then stares out of the open window. "I have never been more proud of Takumi as I am now."

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Camilla giggles.

…

The party of six eventually decide that loitering around in the apartment wasn't the best course of action, considering that this was, in many ways, a great opportunity to better understand this new Nestra and learn from it. Thus, they leave the apartment and begin wandering around the streets below, checking the shops, talking to locals, and just generally acting like very curious tourists.

 _Sakura made sure to leave a note, just in case._

So, when Leo and Takumi return home after their two-hour-long class, they find their relatives wandering the streets not far away from their apartment. Seeing this as a Pretty Good Idea™, the composite Nohr-Hoshido group then continue to wander the streets with Leo and Takumi playing guide.

Come dusk, the group meanders its way to the most well-lit street lined with stalls and then, over the course of a few hours, systematically sample from each and every stall for their dinner.

"I want to never leave." Hinoka says through a mouthful of juicy chicken baked in some kind of spice. "This is so good." She washes it down with something fizzy and cold.

"Manners, sister." Takumi laughs.

"Every time we come here, the place surprises me yet again." Xander marvels. "It's uncanny." He puts a hand on Elise's head. "slow down."

Elise, not slowing down, burns herself on a meat skewer. Sakura patches her up.

"This has been a most wonderful experience." Camilla says as they bundle up their accumulated plates and skewers and toss them away. "It reminds me of a festival."

"It really does." Leo nods. "I find that this is the best way to understand the culture of this new Nestra." He cheerily waves at two Hoshidan girls who were tailing the party the entire time. They swoon. "I like it, and I wholeheartedly wish that the rest of Nohr can be like this."

 _It's a little like this._ Elise says in her head. _Parts of it, anyway._

"Damn straight." Takumi raises his glass of juice in acknowledgement, then has a flash of insight. "Do you think we can make a legally binding treaty here? We are future heads of state, after all."

"If only." Xander laughs. "We would need an official diplomat to have it be binding."

Takumi wasn't surprised. "I thought as much."

"Then…how about we simply make an agreement, between the princes and princesses of Nohr and Hoshido?" Leo asks. "We will strive to make the life in Nestra the standard for all of our citizens in our respective countries."

Ryoma nods readily. "I see no issue with that."

They all look up at the sound of a low roar. A pair of Phoenix Wyvern Lords, trailing orange particles, zoom over the skyline.

"Even if it may not be binding," Xander extends a hand to Ryoma. "Let us put our efforts towards this everlasting peace."

Ryoma cracks a rare smile and takes Xander's hand. "Yes. Let's."

 _Hinoka goes into yaoi mode again._

…

[That Night, 0100 hours]

…

The Phoenix base installation in Nestra, as usual, was a sleepy little place. Between Nestra's ability to stand on its own legs and the newly discovered issues in Bern, the base was staffed by an extremely lean skeleton crew. As such, the control room of the base was manned by a lone girl who drew a really short straw…not that she minded. She sat in front of a monitor surrounded by veritable piles of sweets and confections that were not allowed in the room at any other time.

"If nothing else, night duty means I don't have to do anything else." She says contently, reading a novel while sipping on some nice warm tea. As she takes a bite from a small cake, the monitor before her begins to beep. She ignores it.

The beep then rapidly turns into a harsh buzz.

"What the hell, man…" She sighs at the monitor. "Alright, Jeffery, what's going on?" She says to herself. (She named her monitor). "Oh…wait." She squints. "Oh fuck." She slams a button. "RecMap to center, we have an issue here!" She clears her sweets and wrappers from the table.

In front of her, the monitor was showing a massive dome over the city of Nestra, and what appears to be waves of magic power slamming against the dome.

"What's going on?" Brady demands as he barges into the operational room half-dressed.

The girl eats the eye-candy for a fraction of a moment. "Sir." She shows off her monitor and is inwardly very glad that she always keeps it clean. "We have a class ten magic reaction that's encroaching on the barrier."

Ever since the city of Traesto on Elibe deployed an anti-teleportation shield that stops people from entering or exiting the city via teleportation, Ash had pushed for all of the other cities to have a similar deployment. As such, every city and military base under the Phoenix's command had an anti-magic barrier around it. The field attunes to incoming magic (usually teleportation) and either negates it or diverts it outside the barrier.

The power level, incidentally, was ranked from one to ten, with ten being the highest.

"This is a wee bit bigger than ten." Brady says as he reads the display, a bead of sweat forming across his brow. "Contact headquarters." He demands to the operator. "Raise the alarm and spin up all available elements."

"Sir?" The girl feels like that was a bit of an overreaction.

"Something feels very odd about this." Brady growls. "I hope I'm wrong."

…

[1st Person Camera, 0800 hours]

…

Ooh I feel sick. Suborbital exit-reentry hurts my head. And other things. Ugh. Well, if Brady's calling it a matter of national emergency, then it's probably a matter of national emergency.

"But why all three of us though?!" Robin wails. She got pulled out from Jugdral for this, made an orbital flight, and has slept for all of an hour over five days. She works hard.

"It must be important." Tiki reassures Robin with a friendly pat and a mug of hot chocolate. She's the closest, having been in Tellius until basically right now.

Neither of them had the time to fix their appearances so they're both basically different colored medusas. It's quite cute, really.

 _And you are?_

Unkempt but burned clean, thank you for asking.

The three of us are currently within the premises of the Nestran Phoenix base and…I have to say, Brady's taking this seriously. The Cruisers Eagle Nest and Starlight are both on full combat status, the flying knights have been scrambled, and I would imagine that the aircraft assigned to base are prepped and launch at any time.

…Did I assign any aircraft to the base? I don't remember. Anyways, he's on full alert which would mean that this could be nothing good.

 _We meet Brady and get briefed._

"Thanks for coming on such short notice." Brady says as we begin the meeting. "And sorry about this, Robin." He adds.

"Apology not accepted." Robin sulks. "But continue." There are bags under her eyes and she's frayed beyond recognition.

"Well, um…" Brady draws up the displays on the big screen behind him and oooh that is bad news bears. "I think you can all make heads or tails of this information more than I can." He says.

He's pretty right.

There are a bunch of diagrams displayed behind him.

Diagram One involves the AM barrier over the city of Nestra. While the barrier itself is rather incomplete—we haven't built the central tower's that's needed to project it without the power being lossy—it's still strong enough to withstand serious and concentrated stress.

The diagram is showing that the barrier is broken through in multiple locations and with such finality that the shield is probably not holding on anymore.

"Has there been any side effects to the more delicate equipment?" Tiki asks.

"We're currently checking, the Spider Nest has been knocked out, so anything more finnicky than that is probably also fubar." Brady grumbles.

The Spider's Nest is a city-wide observational network derived from the Spider's Web camera system. Losing it sucks, but we have backups, so that's not that big of a deal…we'll have to call some DAES folk over and see just how much of our stuff needs to be replaced, repaired, and better shielded.

Anyways.

Diagram Two shows a table of readouts and a line graph that shows major powerful spikes in five-minute intervals at around…three o'clock? Hmm. The shield itself was buckling even before then, so the spikes basically hit unimpeded.

…Based on the numbers, the spikes are not just large bursts of magic, but bursts of magic being used in rather explicit ways. Aka: Spells. "Do we know what spells got used?" I ask Brady.

He shakes his head. "We're not even sure if there have been spells used." He points to the diagram, then some others. "This data shows that a spell's been used, but no other information is corroborating the evidence." Oh, that's true.

Yuck.

Diagram Three is a readout of spell-based power over the same timeframe (around three o'clock) and…yeah, as far as we can tell there hasn't been any spells. That's…strange. Ominous, too.

"How much do we know at the moment?" Tiki asks.

"Not much." Brady admits. "I wanted to get your opinions before going forward."

Hmm. "Best I can think is that there is some kind of higher-level power that's doing the job." I think, anyway. "A spell that's not a spell is basically an effect, yeah? An effect that has a spell-like function but lacks the circles that make up a real spell." But there wasn't an effect, per se, it's just raw magic damage.

"So…something like this." Tiki brings out her Dragonstone. "But without a physical form."

"I would imagine so." Brady nods. "In any case, can you guys look into the shields?"

…

'Looking into the shields' in Nestra's case means going to each emitter and making sure that the thing is doing its job. Since the shield's been broken in like a million places, it's fair to say that at least half of the emitters are down.

Still…

 _We are currently walking through the city._

Is it just me, or is Nestra less…friendly, than it was before? Like, I will fully admit to not being here for a while but I feel like the city's suddenly received a new and rather unwelcome oppressive atmosphere.

"Strange." Robin says. I think she's got the same thought as I do. "Last I checked, Nestra's been doing fine on its own."

That's true. It is now roughly nine in the morning, and by this time the streets would be full of people. I have enough experience with magic to know that the people haven't really left or mysteriously disappeared, but…the fact that they're all just hanging around in their houses is kinda weird.

I mean, there's no holiday today, yeah? Even if there was a holiday there'd still be people around…

"So…is it just me, or does it feel like there's going to be a lot of violence on the streets?" Robin says nervously. "Nestra's not usually like this, right?"

"We've done some advertising for the city in Tellius." Tiki says. "But even so, travelers from the city that arrive in Tellius have uncompromisingly good things to say about it."

Which makes the current situation even more strange. "Let's focus on fixing the barrier and see what happens next." I say.

"Right." Robin takes one of the three maps that we've been given. Tiki takes another, which leaves me with…the northwestern side of town. Neat.

 _We visit the north side of town._

Hmm. Same as the other areas, the town has a sense of being very muted, and that's making me feel uncomfortable. The first (of many) emitters is stored in the base of a nondescript storage warehouse, about five floors down. The outer walls of the room is basically shells of concrete and steel, and is functionally unbreakable. Certainly, I don't see any signs of entry.

The first emitter is…what the heck? Each emitter is basically enclosed within a tough steel shell. It takes a lot of firepower to put a dent into it, and we've tested as much.

…so why is the base so badly broken? There's some kind of…liquid? There's a gel-like substance that seems to be seeping into the shell. I don't know my hydraulic effects that well, but I assume that 'going upwards' is not something gels should do.

Hrm.

 _We open the shell._

It's specifically encoded so that only one of us can open it. I might have to change that rule in the future.

Anyways…yeah…

The inside of the shell is basically an array of spell paper and faux dragonstones, all sitting in a tub of water mixed with spirit dust.

Currently, the dust is glowing, meaning that it's magically active. However, the papers are not, which means that something is siphoning the magic from this setup.

 _We remove the central box from the steel shell._

The siphoning stops. So…why? Is it because it's connected to the ground? Hrm.

Depending on the results from the other areas, we might have to consider a setup where the materials get suspended into the air, rather than having them touch the ground.

…

 _As we leave the room, we see two kids fighting._

With knives. What the hell? "Oy!"

 _The kids don't seem to stop._

Ok that's a bit serious. WIND!

 _We send a blast of wind at the kids and separate the two by force._

"What's going on here?" I demand as soon as they look at me.

"He's from Nohr!" The (presumably Hoshidan) kid says.

"He's from Hoshido!" The (presumably Nohrian) kid says.

Both basically at the same time.

…weird. I know the two sides were frosty before, but I didn't think it would be this bad. "And what about it? You're both in Nestra, in Phoenix territory." I say. "Show some respect. What do you two do?"

The Hoshidan kid raises her chin. "I'm an apprentice at Jen's Tailorshop!"

I don't know where that is, but good for you.

The Nohrian boy frowns. "Wait, I'm an apprentice there too."

The two of them stare at each other, then wince in pain. They both clutch at their heads.

"We worked together yesterday." The girl says, frowning. "I like you."

"Y-yeah." The boy nods. "I do too…oh gods, what was I doing?" He throws his knife down. "I'm so sorry! Are you ok?!" He looks to be near tears.

Looking over the two of them, they've both been cut a little by each other's knives.

…well, that's that problem 'solved', or so. But…judging by their reaction, I'm going to assume that some form of mind control has been used in some way. So…that massive spell was a mind control? Seems to be pretty easy to break, at least for us.

…That said, if it was a mind control spell or effect, then we would have been able to see it on our data.

 _Really?_

Not with perfect accuracy, mind you, but similar effects in spells tend to result in similar looking data. This is why the shield works in the first place, after all.

Super hmm.

…

 _As we check on the rest of the emitters, we take the time to stop strangers and get their take on how they feel about the other countries._

Overall…Nohrians hate Hoshidans, Hoshidans hate Nohrians, and both of them behave as if that's been the case for the past thousands of years.

The problem, of course, is that both nations do not hate each other for the past thousands of years. Based on our historical studies, the two nations are about…oh, eight hundred years old? At best, and every single one of the people we've talked to cites some far-off problem at least a millennium and a half ago as one of the major causes of their fractures.

So…why? As far as the people of Nestra is concerned, it seems like we can break their mind control or whatever just by showing that the truth of the matter is different from what they believe, but that doesn't answer the question of why they believe those things in the first place.

…

After convening with Robin and Tiki, as well as other agents working around Nestra, it seems like this new state of hostile relations is the norm. Needless to say, this is not ideal.

"Should we change the way the barrier is structured?" Tiki wonders.

"I've collected some of the gel that was in every single one of the emitters." Robin says. "Maybe they'll find something?"

Eh… "But could a gel really do this kind of stuff?" I ask. "It seems like there's some other force at work here."

"You could go ask the Rainbow sage." Brady says. "If this happens again tonight then I don't think we'll have a counter for it."

"That's fine." Tiki smiles at him. "We'll stay here to form a barrier as needed."

Which means I…get to go fly across the continent to meet the Rainbow sage. Fun.

…

 _So we do._

…

On the flight to the Rainbow Sage's temple, I took some detours over Nohrian and Hoshidan towns.

They're…uh…preparing for war. Preparing with a sense of totality that's frankly terrifying. It seems that every man, woman and child are drilling.

Like. I don't understand how this works. Well, ok, I can guess how this works, but this fanaticism is unsettling.

If I had to guess, I'd say that the same spell is being used, and that it is responsible for this sudden spike in militant nationalism. Unlike Nestra, other towns and villages have next to no contact with people from the other nation, and so it's probably difficult if not impossible for them to suddenly break the…thing.

…To make things worse, some of the towns look like they've done an ad-hoc purges of their local population. Anybody wearing something vaguely Hoshidan (or Nohrian) is rounded up and summarily executed.

This…mind control usually does not go this far.

 _We arrive at the Rainbow Sage's temple near dusk._

Cripes. The main stairway to the sage's temple is destroyed. Climbing it seems to be impossible. I feel a little weird skipping over this obstacle with the power of flight, but hey.

…

The insides of the Rainbow sage's temple has the smell of blood. There's nothing on the walls, floors, or whatever. No sign of a struggle, no sign of violence, but that faint iron scent is definitely there.

"Hello?" I call out. No response.

My magic sense isn't giving off anything, either…did he leave? My detection range is pretty far, so he's either gone super far or else is hiding behind three feet of treated lead. Hm.

 _Ping!_

Oh lordy

 _Something springs from the shadows and aim straight for our face. Our response is to bat it away with a blast of wind._

The culprit is…a small orb of light. A light that doesn't seem to glow. It looks like someone painted a ball and put a small bulb inside of it, or something. It's a bit weird.

"Ah, I recognize you." I hear the Rainbow Sage's voice from the direction of the orb.

The orb dissipates, the room's smell clears, and the Sage is sitting cross-legged in front of me.

I'm curious. "What was that about?"

"I assume you are here about last night." The sage says, ignoring my question. "I am afraid that I have no answers to give you."

Oh, good, he's being unnecessarily unhelpful. "Fine. What was that blast of magic?" It's gonna be, like, twenty chapters of whatever this Fire Emblem Game is before I find out what's going on.

"It is the result of a godly power." The Sage says. "One that is rather similar to what you currently have."

So…Grima. Ok. "Why are the two countries suddenly preparing for war?"

"Because their god wishes it." The Sage nods sadly. "And a god's wish cannot be subverted."

…That's just a wee bit worrying. "I'm not entirely sure I understand, but it sounds like clarification is out of the question. Who is this god?"

The Sage smiles bitterly. "I cannot say."

Why? "Why?"

"His name is cursed." The Sage says. "to give you his name is to place upon you his curse."

'k. "I'm not sure why I should be worried." I note, and allow some of Grima's powers to leak out.

"Grima is…" The Sage pauses. "a good boy."

HA

 **Shush.**

"But I fear that he does not have the fortitude to fight against him." The Sage finishes.

I think he's wrong, but…well…regardless, I think it's fair to say that something like a curse is not something that I should easily play with at the moment, especially not when I have next to no idea of what I'm dealing with.

Well, Elibe's on fire, the Subcontinent is on fire. Troubles come in threes, right? So who's the third asshole that's going to fuck up my day?

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

Over the next few days, Nestra rather harshly wrenches itself into a state of neutrality, where its populace either comes to realize and return to being friends, or else the state sets laws that bans fighting within the city premises. Brady, figuring that it would be better to be heavy handed about this, sends out the guards and enforce what is effectively marshal law in the city until things calmed down some.

Nohr and Hoshido are not as confused. The parties in both countries advocating for friendlier relations disappear overnight, with everyone under the belief that those parties never existed in the first place. Skirmishes along the border spike drastically, and both sides start the mustering of armies and funds for their future campaigns. The logical premise behind the campaigns—that the other side is the spawn of evil—are questioned by none.

…

[3 Months Later]

…

"Cripes."

Two Phoenix Wyvern Lords kitted for high flight espionage overfly the rift between Nohr and Hoshido. Undetected by everyone on the ground and far too high for their respective air units to intercept, they scout the lines of camps on both sides.

"Yeah, they're going at it, alright." The First Wyvern Lord breathes. Below him, Nohrian and Hoshidan units were busy trying to cut each other down to size across an extremely rickety bridge.

"You'd think that they'd see that shitty bridge and then just call it a day." The second Lord chuckles. "Man, what the hell happened?" He shakes his head.

"Order from down high is that a large magic burst happened." Lord A replies. "As for exactly what it is, nobody really knows."

"I'd like to find the asshole who did that and give him a piece of my mind." Lord B growls.

Lord A sympathizes. "Indeed. How's your wife?"

"Recovered." Lord B says. "Bless her heart, she's forgiven me, too."

"Yeah, that's gotta be rough for both of you." Lord A says. "Oh." His radar starts beeping. "Three o'clock low."

Lord B peers in the direction and sees two flights of four Wyvern Knights climb towards them. "Hm. Think they saw us?"

"Maybe. Our stealth doesn't work so well if they're actively looking for errant air units." Lord A flips a switch on his belt. "Command, this is scout unit fourteen, we've been sighted." He reports through his radio. "Requesting new assignment."

"Unit Fourteen, message received." The operator on the line says. "You're hereby cleared to return. Don't get caught out there."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Lord A says. "Let's go."

"Yep."

Both Lords flip a switch on the panel in front of them. The Cruise Engines slung underneath their Wyverns' Wings roar to life, and the two Lords depart from the battlefield.

…

The would-be chasers follow the streak of orange particles with their eyes, and then head back to the ground.

"So…that was the Phoenix Empire's air units?" One of the Wyvern Knights grumbles. "What the hell, we can't even see them or catch them."

"They were recon units." Their leader says. "We've been seeing them all over the border." He sneers. "You'd think that a great power like the Phoenix would have thrown their lot in with us by now."

"They've been in control of Nestra for over five hundred years, they're not gonna do anything." Knight C stretches. "I'm hungry."

"Not gonna do anything, but still willing to sell us food." Knight D muses. "It's hard to gauge which side they're on, hmm?"

…

[Windmire]

…

Over the past three months, Severa, Owain, and Inigo were hard at work defeating their own sense of whiplash. Seemingly overnight, the people responsible for making contact with the Phoenix Empire believed that, somehow, they were in possession of Nestra over the past five hundred years…and that Nestra was a Nohiran city that had just only been taken from them. This information dissonance seemed to bother nobody but the three of them.

Sensing that something was wrong, the three made sure to lay low and keep contact with their home base in case things went wrong. In those three months, they've largely been tasked with training the sudden influx of new recruits to their own, rather high, standards.

"I don't know how I feel about this." Severa mutters after the latest day of training.

"Me too." Inigo says. "Never thought I'd be responsible for training an army being sent to kill my best friend."

"I'm sure Brady's gonna be fine." Owain reassures them both. "It's a damn shame we can't report this information home, though." They haven't had a chance to leave the castle grounds for any serious amount of time.

"Well…it's not like this information is set in stone." Severa agrees. "So apart from some speculation, the only thing we can report is that Nohr is building up…but that should be obvious from the border." She scratches her head. "The switch over to war is so total it defies belief."

"Indeed." Owain says, then glances to the door of their quarters (except Severa). "Look alive." He warns.

"Selena." Beruka enters the room noiselessly. "Our Lady's calling for us."

"You're really good at tracking people down, you know?" Severa gives one of her pigtails a toss and stands up. "What's it about?"

"She wants you to clear the 22nd for deployment." Beruka says.

Severa blinks. "Oh, gods that's fast. They just started training two weeks ago. Why?"

"Don't know, don't care." If Beruka was the kind that shrugs, she would have. "Just go."

"Alright, alright. Geez…" Severa tries to put her hand on Beruka's head to ruffle her hair, but Beruka dodges. "You're no fun."

"Anything for us?" Inigo asks. Beruka just slinks out of the room without another word. "She only talks to Sev, huh?" He chuckles.

"She only talks when she has something to say." Severa sighs. "Anyways, wish me luck."

"Things are really going fast, huh?" Owain mutters after Severa leaves. "The change of tune is so fast the rest of the country can't catch up."

Inigo nods. "Yeah. If Nestra isn't basically bankrolling Nohr's food situation, their economy would just collapse." He blinks. "Speaking of food, how's Prince Leo's tomato project?" Leo had been recalled from Nestra a week after the Burst.

"He's in charge of training their Dark Knights." Owain says. "So he hasn't had the time…hell, no nobles had the time."

"Not even their snow white?" Inigo grins.

"Wasn't that a story meant for children?" Owain rolls his eyes. "Apparently she's being summoned today. We can probably sneak a look if—"

"Sir Odin! Sir Laslow! Your lords are calling for you!" A guard outside yells.

"—if we get a royal summon." Owain checks his gear. "We good?"

"Yep." Inigo shoots to his feet. "I hope she's pretty."

Owain can only just sigh at his friend. "I swear, man."

…

The three of them make their way to the king's chambers.

"Man, he looks like shit." Owain mutters upon seeing King Garon at his throne.

Inigo was compelled to agree: compared to the man that existed but a mere three months ago, King Garon's entire complexion had turned. Before, he was getting on the ages but definitely jovial, to the point where it was rather difficult to believe that he was as old as he was.

Now? It's hard to believe that he's as young as he is.

"I hope I age more gracefully than he has in these months." Inigo comments softly as he takes his position as a guard for Xander. "Apologies for my delay." He salutes Xander.

"Mm." Xander waves him away, his eyes focused on the stage. He, like the rest of the officials invited to this audience, were seated at a pair of long tables flanking the throne, facing outwards and toward the open floor.

A herald arrives some minutes later. "Introducing Princess Corrin!" He says, with all the tone of having to perform a rather unwelcoming task.

Inigo felt his heart jump at the sight of their mark. _She's as pretty as always._ Inigo thinks to himself, pretending to think in order to cover his slowly spreading smile. _I wonder if these past months affected her as well?_

"I greet your excellency." Corrin says formally, following the expected court decorum down to the finest detail. "I am Princess Corrin, of the Southern Provinces."

"Come now, no need to be so formal." Garon says with a smile that barely moves his face. "Though adopted, you are my daughter, through and through."

Corrin responds with a meek little bow. Though downcast, her eyes were nevertheless analyzing every facet of Garon's behavior. _I will fully admit to being not very well acquainted with father Garon, but everything about him is strange to me suddenly._ She thinks.

"As you are now of age to lead, my dear daughter, I will now confer upon you a position and a rank." Garon says dispassionately. "You will hereby be given command of the north garrison at Dragonfall."

"She's not ready for this." Xander seethes to himself and then raises his hand.

"The court recognizes Prince Xander." Another official, the master of ceremonies, says. "You may speak."

"I wish to lodge an objection against Princess Corrin's assignment." Xander says. "She does not have the experience necessary to command, much less a fortress at the border."

 _Prince Xander._ Corrin recognizes him. _My eldest brother, but also someone that I've never met._ Her innate competitive spirit starts to burn. _What do you mean, I'm not ready for this?_

"I concur." Another official says. A few others echo his sentiment.

 _Strange._ Inigo frowns. _As far as I've known, Corrin's existence to the court has basically been a footnote. Why's her royalty position suddenly a given?_ He knew what caused this, of course, but it didn't stop him from wondering all the same.

 _Boss warned us about weird magic shit going on._ Owain notes in his head. _I suppose this is one of them._

"Your concerns are noted." Garon says. "Do you have any defense you'd like to offer, Corrin?"

"Eh, um…" Corrin feels a little put on the spot; her prepared defense was not fit to be used at court. "While I realize that I have no experience in manning a garrison, I believe I can adapt and learn fast enough for that to be a nonfactor."

"Well said." A noble nods. A few agree with her.

"If I may." Garon's council speaks up and waits to be given the right to speak.

 _Iago._ Severa narrows her eyes.

"Perhaps we can give the good princess a trial of a sort?" Iago offers. "Strength of character should be shown before leadership can be given." He slyly glances at Xander. "Am I correct, prince?"

"I concur." Xander says with a scowl. "Laslow."

"Sure." Laslow bows to the king. "I will be pleased to be of service."

"Your service is appreciated." Iago says with slight derision. "I propose a mock battle between Sir Laslow and Princess Corrin."

The attending nobles debate some more before coming to the consensus that seeing what Corrin can do is a good way to gauge if the troops will respect her.

"And that's how it goes." Laslow accepts a practice sword given to him. "You don't mind, do you, Corrin?"

"Not at all, sir Laslow." Corrin smiles sweetly at him. The three of them—Severa, Owain, and Inigo—had meticulously maintained contact with Corrin on the assumption that she would be someone important, on Ash's orders. Mostly on Ash's orders. As a result, they were all rather familiar with each other. "Please go easy on me."

 _As a side effect, because the three of them kept using Phoenix based transportation to go from A to B, Corrin has a twisted sense of how fast people can travel from place to place._

Upon given the signal by the master of ceremonies, the two go into battle. Inigo holds back as much as he could and allow Corrin a few chances to show off what she had learned, before slowly raising his tempo. Corrin keeps up well, but eventually Inigo's experience proves too much for her.

Corrin raises her hands in defeat as the point of Inigo's wooden blade stops an inch from her throat. The two share smiles and shakes hands. They turn to the table of nobles and salute to polite applause.

"You have promise." Garon says after the applause dies down. "Xander?"

"No further disagreements." Xander says with a slight frown. He would have rather liked Laslow to throw the match for Corrin's sake instead (or else ruthlessly crush her), but what happened happened.

"Sir, I would like to suggest an alternative." Iago says with a wide smile. "Considering the potential demonstrated by Lady Corrin, as well as the…consideration…we have learned from the Phoenix Empire…wouldn't it be more prudent to give the lady a more active role in our plans?"

"Concur." Chorused most of the minor nobles. Garon smiles in response.

Owain shudders, for the smile could be best described as 'superficially benevolent'.

"Agreed." Garon nods. "In light of your skill at arms and ability to intermingle with the men," he nods to Laslow, "I have decided to assign you a new posting."

Corrin, upon hearing the posting, nods in deference. "By your will, father."

Xander, upon hearing the posting, nearly shot from his chair in anger. _This is big mistake._ He takes a breath to calm himself. _At least I'll be nearby to help._

Iago, catching Xander's moment of fury, smiles to himself. _Thank you, Xander, for making this much easier than expected._

…

Following the royal audience, Severa, Inigo, and Owain met briefly to confer.

"Dude's insane." Owain says as the opening statement. "Why Cheve?"

Corrin's new assignment is to lead an army of six hundred men and (help) take Cheve, a currently neutral city-state.

"You know why." Inigo says, and Owain has to concede that…actually he didn't and would really like an explanation.

Cheve used to be an ignorable little city, operating semi-autonomously from the Nohiran government. It shared this trait with Nestra prior to the Phoenix's takeover of the city. Following Nestra's takeover by the Phoenix Empire, Cheve received some of the windfall that came with the city's sudden increase in available foodstuffs and trade goods, becoming more prosperous as a result.

Geographically, Cheve has a river close to the city that acts as its major access to the ocean, which has the depth to support a small-sized Nohrian ship but not much else.

Cheve is also a wee bit more interested in its own independence compared to Nestra, and this sentiment coupled with the relative lack of wealth in the city meant that, until recently, the Nohrian government was pretty ok with leaving the city alone to its own devices.

The city is notable for having three companies of noble knights. These knights make up the majority of the Chevois nobility, and constantly compete with each other for control of the city-state and the nearby outlying regions. One such group promised to pledge total fealty to Nohr should they be placed in power, which is one of the main reasons why Nohr is picking this time to act.

"Get it now?" Inigo gives Owain the abbreviated version of the above abbreviated description.

"Not really." Owain shrugs. "But it's a power play, yeah?"

"Aye." Severa nods. She figures (correctly) that Nohr is attempting to establish control over Cheve as a check on Nestra. The terrain between the two cities is basically only farmland, making large army action easy as a result. The docks of the city would also be a good place to moor warships that can also help to blockade Nestra when necessary. The fact that it was definitely within the strike range of aircraft stationed at Nestra was not lost on her. "Either way, with the Boss looking out for Snow White, we have to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"Good luck with that." Owain pats Inigo on the shoulder. Xander was going as the commander of the much bigger main army, which means Inigo gets to tag along.

Inigo scratches his head. "Yeah." He's got a bit of thinking to do.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

I guess this would technically be chapters 0 to 2? Obviously the mission is different and the Ganglari isn't a thing.

And, as always, feel free to shout at me for missing things or not explaining things better. I will, maybe, remember to do it better.

 **Have you considered taking notes?**

Also: Zeppy's dad is King Desmond, not Hartmund, because Ash is seriously bad at remembering names.


	9. Part 7: Something Is Happening

{ === + === }

[3rd Person Camera]

It takes roughly three weeks for Xander and Corrin's armies to make their way to the borders of Cheve. The trip managed to prove two things: one, that Xander was a charismatic leader that everyone respected, and…

Two: Corrin did not know how to lead an army.

To be perfectly fair, though, she had her work cut out for her. Xander's army of two thousand or so was larger and better organized in various ways, while Corrin's, though smaller, was a ramshackle group that was formed essentially for the sake of this one invasion.

Xander's army is led by both standing captains of the Nohiran army and trusted members of his retinue, with Inigo acting as his vice-captain and second in command. Everyone in the army is a regular, with training and discipline to match, and Xander, being both the crown prince and a capable general (in war games, anyway) commands their respect without worry.

Corrin's army is…more ramshackle. Unlike Xander's more balanced army, Corrin's troops range from the cream of the crop to complete amateurs. She has: small groups of crack great knights, cavaliers who are learning to ride as they march, snipers whose names are known throughout both armies, archers who couldn't shoot more than five feet in front of them, hardened mercenaries looking for ever more loot, and new guys from villages who know little beyond 'point sharp end at enemy'.

Point being, she had (has) a hard time getting things together. It also did not help that her retinue and command staff seem to be comprised of: a squire, two maids, a butler, and an old man. (That said, Gunter, the old man, did command a level of respect among the great knights, so she had that going for her.)

Fortunately, the weight of the royal mission meant that both armies were able to make their march without incident, and were now poised to invade Cheve with only minor delays, allaying one of Xander's two fears.

He airs the other one at their first (current) staff meeting on site near Cheve. "What are the odds that the Phoenix will get involved?"

Attending the meeting were a mix of veteran knights from the army, the strategist corps of his main army, and Corrin (plus her attendants). And also Inigo. Inigo, by virtue of being a Phoenix agent, was told rather explicitly that he should give the Nohr army as much information as he had in his role of a well-travelled mercenary and retainer, and not worry too much about the whole 'traitor to the state' thing. Not that it helped his nerves much.

The gathering of leaders all voice their opinion, and Xander's frown deepens as their positions become more clear. Namely, everyone in attendance believes—in some fashion or other—that the Phoenix will not be involved in a fight for a city not a hundred miles from its borders.

 _And none of them could give a satisfactory reason._ Xander grits his teeth.

Corrin raises her hand, and Xander gives her the floor. "Sir Laslow, you are seasoned and well-travelled, are you not?" She asks Inigo. "Do you have any insights on the possible actions of the Phoenix Empire?"

Inigo, being essentially a bodyguard at a meeting like this, was a bit caught off guard. He expected to give his report to Xander directly, not in front of thirty-odd people like this. Still, he had a role to play. "I have some experience with the Phoenix Empire, yes." He says with confidence as he pieces together his cover story.

"Let's hear it." Xander says/commands.

"Sir." Inigo nods. "The Phoenix Empire seems to be perpetually short on manpower and is rather insular, so I don't think they'll consider helping Cheve to be important."

"Basis?" One general asks him.

"Not much." Inigo lies. "Beyond a few whispers here and there within Nestra."

"All fine and good." Xander nods. "What if they do? Intervene, I mean."

"Well…" Inigo scratches his nose. "Their warships provide most of their firepower, but are too heavy for the Cheve River. I heard that their infantry is fast, but I have no evidence to corroborate that." He's never actually seen a Truck, since they were all in Elibe.

"What of the quality of their men? Can we defeat them in open battle?" A strategist asks.

"Phoenix Infantry are…unusual." Inigo says slowly. "They're not very motivated, but they're also not despondent, either." The strategist shoots him a glare. "I've only seen them in drills and training." He explains. "So my information may be flawed. Regardless, it's best to act under the belief that, while they would be slow to war, their troops effectively will never break and run when fighting actually occurs."

"Preposterous." A strategist scoffs. "There does not exist a man who will not crack under pressure."

Inigo nods. "I agree, however…the most recent war that included the Phoenix resulted in them winning handily despite one to one hundred odds." He felt like the fact that the enemy were vapor zombies could be glossed over. "I don't think they're going to get involved, but we do need a contingency in the event that they do."

"And what should the parameters be for that contingency?" The strategist asks.

"Assume that the Phoenix is aware of your plan, your immediate reaction to an attack, and your alternate plan." Inigo smiles thinly. "It's safe to say that their love for information should also bleed into their doctrines of war."

"Jumping at shadows, if you ask me." The strategist scoffs. "But thank you for your input."

…

Following the meeting, Corrin makes her way back to her own camp, deep in thought.

"Hey, Corrin! Hi!" She hears while on her walk and looks up to see Felicia bounce towards her with Flora in tow. "This is pretty crazy, huh? First mission and we're already leading an army!"

"Yeah." Corrin replies with a small smile. "It's unbelievable. In many ways."

"Greetings, master." Flora curtsies quickly. "What is the verdict of the war council?"

"We march on Cheve." Corrin replies. "Gather the commanders, I'll explain the plan."

…

[1st Person Camera, Nestra]

…

 _We are currently sitting in a small office. The sound of a forehead—our forehead—hitting the wooden table can be heard as a messenger stands before us, rather worried, as we repeatedly bump our head against the table._

 _"U…um…sir?" He says after a minute of constant Thump, Thump, Thump._

"I heard you." I say into the table. "Thank you for your report." I hold out my hand for the report. He hands it over, salutes, and leaves. Probably.

 _Throughout that interaction we did not stop staring at the table from an extremely close distance._

Why Cheve, huh? Why?

…ugh. Ok. Let's…take stock. It's been a fucking rough four months.

First off, we have some preliminary information concerning the Burst.

As far as we can tell, the Burst is an effect of some kind that resonates with the inherent magic flowing through the land. The magic of every continent is unique (though they share broad similarities) and the analysis of the magic of the land and the data of the Burst shows enough matching points that we can safely rule out a coincidence. The reason why it didn't affect Nestra/Izumo as hard is because our shields inherently alter the flow of that magic…though obviously not by enough to matter at the time. It helped shunt some of the effect, though, so it's not all bad.

The Burst obviously affected people from Nohr and Hoshido, but as far as we can tell, _only_ people from Nohr and Hoshido. I suspect it's because they're born from this land and therefore have that attunement. Among everyone affected, older people and people new to Nestra/Izumo (less time in shields) showed the greatest change, while Outrealmers or people from other continents had zero change at all.

As for our infiltration teams in Nohr and Hoshido…their information is that the Burst fundamentally changed the way the subcontinent worked. I…my initial reaction is 'mind control', but it seems to be deeper than that. The broad strokes of the two countries hasn't changed (Nohr is still a bit egalitarian and Hoshido a bit authoritarian) but as far as the two are concerned, all other changes were considered to be…I dunno, innate?

Magic of all forms leave behind a bit of residue after it gets used (icky example: think like sweat after you exercise). Stronger magic results in more residue for longer, and magic that acts over time like Mind Control is basically a blaring light that goes HEY I'M DOING A THING if you're paying attention. We have sensors that pay attention 24/7, and…that blaring light doesn't exist for Nohr or Hoshido.

As far as we can tell, it's less "They are under mind control" and more "Their states have been replaced entirely". It's kinda like if somebody loaded a new save on top of the current one. The people are the same but their parameters are different.

Either way, the two countries are now operating under the assumption that they hate each other (more). Though, I will note, written documents are not changed…though both sides have a tendency to not write down political treaties and stuff. I wonder if that's intentional?

Silver lining: just because the two countries now believe that they have always hated each other does not mean that the two countries lack people who want to play nice. If nothing else, those people have gotten more vocal as a result.

…And then there's Cheve.

So, Cheve is fiercely protective of their ego and independence, and as a result they've basically accepted no aid from us. Some of the Outrealmers have made trips to the city to just pass out information (like how to farm around their turf) and that was basically all they can do. Post-Burst, they've gotten even more egotistical and independent, and I know Brady had to issue a travel memorandum against going to Cheve when one of the well-meaning but rather naïve "help the needy" folk got the shit stoned out of him. He's alive, mind you, but quite shaken.

 _And not at all deterred from trying to help people, either._

Good on him. Either way, we're not friends with Cheve, and this is a problem. Nohr's marching on that city, and in the event that the city falls, we would be in a lot of danger. Well, _some_ danger. More danger than we currently experience, which is quite low, honestly.

A part of this is due to geography: north of Nestra—the Nohr-side entrance—is rather easy to guard because 1) there's a fucking forest that makes marching large amounts of troops hard and 2) there's a pretty substantial river that the troops would have to cross. In the event that Nohr wants to attack, they would have to use a series of bridges for either their troops and their supply line.

We have aircrafts and bombs. Bridges built in this day and age are not rated to withstand a hit from guided penetration bombs.

However, the Cheve side is just farms and plains. It…well, we'd be able to _defend_ , but if there's one thing we've learned from the different kinds of Outrealm history, it is that guns are not invincible and acting otherwise is the first step on a comprehensive journey to getting our asses handed to us.

…Course, we do have a lot of guns, so we'd be able to make their army pay dearly for trying to attack (to the point where they can't siege), but considering that Xander and that Corrin girl are there, I'd rather not be heavy handed with this.

 **So what's the real reason that Cheve is a problem?**

The real reason is because ELIBE IS SAPPING MY MANPOWER. Jugdral too, but at least I caused that one.

Ok, so.

Shortly after Etruria declared their intent to move in on the neutral territory, Bern declares Etruria a warmonger. Etruria's response is to declare war on Bern for the city of…Arms? Armes? Something like that. The city is small but rather well fortified, and is pretty much the gatekeeper between Bern and Etruria. Pretend the neutral zone isn't there for this discussion, since if Armes is lost then the neutral zone would effectively be Etruria's.

Normally, the city is well garrisoned, supplied, and supported by three smaller fortresses behind their lines. With Bern's civil war not really stopping, two of the three fortresses are fucked™ and the third one is besieged by a Sacaean tribe with some huge proverbial balls. Proverbially huge balls? Opportunistic assholes, every last one of 'em.

Either way, things are looking down for Bern. Notably, Etruria has been more proactive with their diplomatic efforts than the insular Bern, and therefore the rest of the continent is more supportive of them than their long-time rival, newly warring enemy. With exceptions, because there are always exceptions.

Specifically, though Hector declared that the Lycian League wasn't interested in this fight, some of the Marquesses that border Bern (or else have Bern leanings like Laus) privately pledged support of some sort. Ilia's jumping at the chance to sell mercenaries, mostly to Etruria, though it sounds like they're not getting the deals they expected. Sacae has no central government and thus does its own thing, though I've heard that some of their nomads are acting as mercenaries.

Bern, not having much control over the continent's diplomatic policy (due in no small part to its insular nature) has turned to us, the Phoenix Empire, for some military support. They've offered a rather large sum of money as payment. It's making the Ilians jealous, I'll tell you that.

 _Who did?_

I think it's the King's faction, though I can't be too sure. Either way, the Phoenix's official policy is that we do whatever the fuck we want, and…well, being paid off to fight a war is right up that alley, so I can't exactly just back away without a good reason. Also, Nino, by virtue of being a native of Bern, is feeling a wee bit patriotic, so she's already accepted without my input.

…and honestly, this is a good way for us to flash our talons a little, so I can't say I mind.

As such, Traesto now has basically the entire Phoenix army, which is made up of: two mobile companies and two infantry companies, plus all the air support they can muster.

Which means that we have roughly 1000 ground troops (drivers, gunners included) in Elibe, not counting any mercenary or levy infantry, and, ostensibly, two fighter squadrons of VF-1 Walkures and four squadrons of A-1 Diamonds.

I say 'ostensibly' because the Walkures are only at half strength (so they each make up half of a full squadron) and, of the four Diamond squadrons, only one actually exist: the other three has the aircraft but no pilots. The two Walkure leads, Snake and Adder, are adamant about keeping their squadrons separate from each other for bureaucratic purposes. They work well together, though, so it's fine.

 _Nah's leading the Diamonds._

…So, obviously, this isn't a problem for Elibe per se, it's just that…I now have preciously little to send into other locations. I mean…Elibe's not a problem because there's a war, it's just because we're still fulfilling a backlog of manpower shortages (garrison units come first) so, like…with regards to Cheve or any other popup issues, there is literally _nothing_ else I can spare at this point.

…I mean, I can always levy troops, so it's not like we can't act if we need defense, but offensively we're basically fucked until further notice.

 **Not willing to risk sending peasants into battle?**

If I wanted to send in dudes with swords, I would hire some dude with swords. Levy on defense means I can give them guns without worrying about said guns falling into the wrong hands. The guns'll blow up if they're too far from a Phoenix civilian anyway but that's kind of a failsafe that I would rather keep a secret unless absolutely necessary.

Anyhoo.

We're now nominally allied with Bern and our troops' first assignment is to take and relieve that besieged fortress to help cover their relief army's attempt to relieve Armes.

…

[Timetables]

…

So, Timetables. Apologies, but honestly far too many things are happening too quickly to give it all fair coverage. For the sake of clarity: Day Zero, Time 0000 (Midnight) is considered to be after the day where we officially accepted the request for military support from Bern (so roughly 30 hours between the two points). We're using military time, which has 24 hour-per-day notations (1800 = 6 pm).

 _For the sake of simplicity let's say that both continents are miraculously on the same clock._

Day Zero, 1000 hours: Corrin (we think) arrives on the borders of Cheve and begin their incursion.

At 1200 hours, Bern's main army departs from their staging area and head to Armes. We're told specifically to coordinate our arrival on our target so as to avoid "alerting Etruria of our plan", which is kinda stupid because I'm damn sure Etrurian spies are in Bern and thus would already know of their plan. I mean, everybody with a pair of eyes is aware that we've massed troops and materiel.

 **Day 1** , 0900 hours: Cheve is besieged by the Xander-Corrin army. They send a request to Cheve's leadership for their surrender.

At 1400 hours, Cheve sends their official reply, which is (I suppose) a very florid "fuck off", since the siege progresses.

At 1600 hours, Etruria arrives at Armes and begins laying siege. They, unlike the Xander-Corrin army a whole continent away, brought siege equipment. Worryingly, it looks like somebody leaked trebuchets to Etruria over the years, since they've brought a few of those things. The most advanced siege equipment of Elibe is, as far as I know, the ballista, so…yeah.

At 1900 hours, Etruria begins attacking Arme's walls with its trebuchets. Again, I feel like tech has been leaked here, since our aerial recon shows what we think is a rather sophisticated range table in Etruria's war camp. Their shots are extremely accurate and their crews are impeccably drilled, which implies that they've been preparing for this for a while.

At 2100 hours, A knight unit sallies from Cheve towards the Xander-Corrin army while a messenger sneaks out the back gate towards Nestra. They fight for a little while, take some light losses, and retreat in good order. As far as we could tell nobody important got involved in that one.

 **Day 2** , 0700 hours: Etruria brings ladders to the walls of Armes under trebuchet fire. Arme's ballistae are now in range of enemy ladder teams and the first assault begins, I suppose. Props to Armes for making some seriously tough walls, though; a whole night's worth of treb attacks is only causing the walls to slightly buckle. Magic probably was involved.

At the same time, Cheve starts slinging long range spells at Xander's army. It's mostly repelled.

At 1100, Etruria calls off its first assault. Losses are surprisingly light for the assaulting army and surprisingly heavy for the defending one. One factor, I imagine, is that the Etrurians are now confirmed to be fielding large amounts of rapid reloading crossbows. The fact that they have crossbows is not surprising: the tech is now being adopted by almost every army on Elibe and they just happen to be the first ones to use it on a battlefield. The fact that they're rapid reload, however…

At 1300, Etruria sends in its Pegasus Knights. Armes sends up its Wyvern Knights. Our aerial recon has to pull up through low clouds to avoid detection. Our old stealth system is pretty much compromised at this point, since everyone expects the Phoenix to be everywhere and therefore are constantly on guard for anything strange in the air. It sucks, because it means we'll have to invent something more cumbersome than just a coat of magic paint.

At 1400, Corrin's army tries its first assault on Cheve. They have only two ladder and no support, so I can imagine this being a horrid failure.

1430: Corrin's attack was a horrid failure, but judging by the reactions of the rest of her army and Xander's army…the attack was not a planned one.

1500: Our aerial recon re-establishes battlefield info over Armes. The Wyvern Knights are annihilated. We don't really know why, though it wouldn't be surprising if crossbows were involved.

 **Day 3** , 1000 hours: the Bern main army moves close enough to their objective that we can begin sallying. The first and second mobile units are deployed. All air assets are scrambled.

1200: the Walkures and Diamonds reach the besieged fortress. They maul the besieging army to the point where survivors are less than twenty, and probably also put the fear of god into every man, woman, and child who witnessed the air supremacy show.

1300: Bern's main army reach the now relieved fortress and resupply. I should note that they're travelling light in order to make good time and therefore needed the fort to be clear in order to, y'know, eat. Our mobile units are therefore also the supply wagon for the main army. I tried to negotiate for as few combat roles as possible, since I really don't want to murder Etruria for money. It helps that Bern's egotistical and want to be the Big Guys in this fight.

 **Day 4** , 1200 hours: the Xander-Corrin army begin their true assault on Cheve. We never received the Chevois messenger, so I assume he was intercepted at some point, though we've had no sightings of combat between them and Nestra.

 _Some of the inns between Nestra and Cheve had turned. The messenger got lost in the darkness, was forced to find shelter in one of the inns due to inclement weather, and was then subsequently drugged and killed in his sleep._

1600 hours: the Xander-Corrin army assault is fended off. Our aerial recon can't tell the specifics, but it looks rather bad for the Corrin army.

…

[3rd Person Camera, Xander-Corrin army camp]

…

"You wanted to see me, brother?"

Xander looks up and scowls at Corrin. "Yes." He gestures to an empty stool in his command tent. "Sit."

Corrin, understandably nervous, does as she's told.

Xander lets her fidget for a minute before launching his questions. "What the hell happened out there?"

"I, um…I'm not sure what you mean." Corrin says truthfully.

"You went over the wall with the first wave." Xander's scowl is unmoving. "You, the commanding officer of the army, joined the vanguard. What in gods' name were you thinking?"

"Well, I mean…a leader leads from the front, right?" Corrin repeats something that Flora taught her. "So I figured that, y'know…"

"A leader only leads from the front when there's contingencies for the rest of the battle." Xander says levelly. "It is not an excuse to simply jump into the front lines like a fresh rookie."

 _But I am a fresh rookie._ Corrin says in her head. "I'm sorry, brother. I'll do better."

"I would hope so." Xander nods slowly. "For now, repair the damage you've done to your army. Dismissed."

Corrin's decision to join her vanguard as the first unit over the walls was first met with respect…and then a total lack thereof when it became obvious that Corrin, in the face of a real fight, was a neophyte. She effectively panicked when blood started to be spilled en masse, got critically injured, and had to be dragged away and healed.

In many ways, the entire reason why the attack failed was because Xander had to ensure that Corrin did not get herself killed in both her and his very first campaign. Not because he cared for her specifically, but he had to ensure that he did not lose a general who was also royalty from day one.

Either way, Corrin's little display meant that her army, which did not respect her from the beginning, was now borderline hostile to her leadership. While not willing to mutiny outright (they had too much national pride for that) they were basically disregarding her orders entirely…not that Corrin had any to give in the first place.

Ultimately, Corrin was able to regain some measure of control by confiding with Xander and placing her army as a reserve unit rather than the vanguard, which Xander readily agreed.

Flora was not happy with that arrangement. "In other words, he sent your troops as a vanguard on purpose." She hits the nail on the head.

"He did?" Felicia…was busy looking for the nail instead. "How?"

"Corrin's army has many seasoned soldiers and no semblance of organization." Gunter explains. "It stands to reason that they would be used as shock troops, ready to deal damage after the vanguard has made its opening." He smiles thinly. "At the same time it gives the Prince the appearance of caring for the well-being of the entire army…quite shrewd indeed."

Corrin scratches her head. "Is that my fault?"

"To call it a 'fault' would be wrong." Gunter says firmly. "You are inexperienced in leadership still, and it is his duty as the head of command to structure his forces."

Flora inwardly sneers.

"I have a lot of learning to do." Corrin nods. "I would like to talk to the troops some more."

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

 **Day 5** , 0800 hours. Bern's army depart from their fortress after resupply. They're moving along with our mobile units, which are literally just crawling along next to the army. Simultaneously(ish) Cheve launched a morning raid against the Xander-Corrin army. Like before, they sent out a messenger at the same time. This time the messenger is a Wyvern Knight.

The Xander-Corrin army seems to notice, since their own interceptors are in the air and are giving chase.

0830 hours. The Chevois messenger crosses into Nestran airspace with the Xander-Corrin army interceptors giving hard chase. Considering that they're now in our turf, Brady decides to send up our own interceptors to act as escorts for said messenger. I do not disagree, because sovereignty and all that jazz.

0900 hours. The messenger gets to land at the base and oh I have to go meet her now?

…

So I do. The ranking members in Nestra are currently just myself and Brady. Robin's gone home to Magvel to get a deserved vacation (because if push comes to shove and war actually happens she's gonna be busy) and Tiki's back in Tellius.

As such…the messenger is a thin, weedy looking girl. Judging by the state of her gear, though, she's been well prepared for this trip. The meeting room is Brady's office, and we sit her down in front of his shiny glass table and give her some water.

 _She gives us a small preamble about Cheve's current situation._

Apart from what we can see from aerial recon, Cheve's current issue is that the attack coincided with their latest harvest season, and as a result their granaries are not in the best state for a siege (no time to manage their harvest). If they had forewarning they would've burned their crops, since we're here as a backup for food. Manpower-wise, (she is confident that) Cheve can hold out in a siege, though we know that she's bluffing since aerial recon shows that their knights got the shit savaged out of them in their latest attack. They're holding the walls, yeah, but it's likely going to be pretty tenuous.

As such, Cheve is requesting military support from us, against Nohr.

"Out of the question." Brady says immediately.

 **Seems rather harsh.**

If we agreed, we'd send our military to mop up, and then Cheve would likely not give us any concessions in return, and then we'd have angered both neighbors for not even a moral victory. We (read: Brady and some Outrealmers with diplomatic experience) have gone over scenarios on what would happen, and this is one of the more likely outcomes.

"If Cheve wants us to interfere in their matters, then they should come with something more concrete than an appeal for action during their time of need." Brady continues. "Understand that we are, first and foremost, a business." He scowls a little at that.

"I see." The messenger says shakily…I don't think she expected that kind of response. "As you know, Cheve's economy is only recently improving, and…" She basically starts listing reasons.

The important takeaway is that…Cheve doesn't have a lot to give for our support, and she knows it. Even so, the biggest card on the table—Cheve's independence—is not played at all.

Says a lot about its people, no?

 _The discussion lasts until lunch, where we show the poor girl to the base's mess hall so she can have something to eat._

Considering her progressively less sophisticated language and demeanor, I don't think she was sent for the express purpose of negotiating with us.

 _She was sent because the Chevois lords know that Ash has two wives, and figured that he could maybe be tempted by adding one more. The messenger, it should be noted, bears a rather striking resemblance to Amelia—blond hair, adorable face, is a flier. Y'know, the works._

Either way, she held up pretty well considering that Brady is A] really shaping up to be an expert diplomat and B] very scary to be around.

"This is a shit situation, boss." Brady says in a low voice as we watch the messenger scarf down her lunch. "I want to go help, but I know Cheve's just going to turn around and fuck us over."

Aye. "What do we have?"

"If shit goes down? Eagle Nest." Brady says. "some mercs, maybe." He squirms a bit. "Also we have arty, but I don't think you'd want to use that."

Nestra has some artillery batteries with the range to reach Cheve and then some. Their accuracy is shite, and using them on a city is kinda…bad. So, yeah, I don't. "Have Santa on standby."

Brady nods. "I'll steer her towards it." He goes and takes his own lunch.

'Santa', by the way, is our nickname for the T-1 'Herakles' cargo transport. Basically a C-130 Hercules but more ramshackle and magiky, the T-1 is designed for us to transport large amounts of cargo quickly between our disparate bases. It was supposed to be field tested in Elibe, but since Etruria and Bern happened we had to divert it to somewhere else.

 **Wanna tell them why you never test things in Magvel?**

Because giant jumping spiders and flying laser shooting eyeballs. Fuck them forever.

Anyways, the T-1 is designed to carry a shitton of cargo, so my plan is to basically fill it with supplies, airdrop it to Cheve, and make the case to Xander that we can keep Cheve supplied forever if he wants to siege. I know the man reasonably well, and…well, I knew him reasonably well. I don't know how post-Burst Xander will act.

…I should drop a note to Inigo at some point, see if he can tilt Xander our way a little.

…

[Back to Timelines]

…

At 1400 hours, Etruria breaks through the walls of Armes with their trebuchets and force their way in. Aerial recon reports street-to-street fighting. Up to this point Etruria was able to take the walls, but were not able to capitalize on this and, say, open the gates. Turns out that being on the walls is really bad when the other side has some Bolting in reserve.

Non-sequitur: Bolting deals splash damage. Quite a lot of splash damage, actually.

1800: Bern's army hears about this and double-time it to the city.

1900: Armes has fallen. Etruria moves their troops out of the city…wait, what?

…The analysts have told me that it's because they don't think they can hold a city they just recently captured without also having to deal with civilian interference. Bern's populace tends to be rather nationalistic (see: Nino). As such, the Etrurian army is now moved to the side of the city, on good terrain.

 **Day 6** , 1200: For fuck's sake guys. Bern's army reaches the Etrurian army, and both set up to engage. At the same time, the Xander-Corrin army mounts a second attack on Cheve.

Incidentally, Brady's negotiations with Cheve has…not necessarily broken down, but certainly has hit a snag. The messenger is steadfast in her belief that she doesn't have the authority to grant diplomatic requests (so why come in the first place? Jeez) and therefore we need to talk to an actual politician.

So we're gonna go with plan B.

…

[3rd Person Camera, Xander-Corrin army camp]

…

Though they had decided on this day to launch their second attack, Xander was impatient.

Reason one: they've already prepared as much as they could, and every second of delay was more time for Cheve to get their act together and mount a stronger defense.

Reason two: the messenger sent by Cheve to Nestra did not return after being escorted into the city, which strongly meant that negotiations were, if not necessarily going _well,_ then at least not going poorly.

To that end, it was imperative that he seize the city as soon as possible, since there was always the chance of the Phoenix interfering. Without Cheve, his only option would be to pack up and go home. With it, he could at least negotiate for a payment of some sort.

Xander pushes away the idea that the Phoenix would militaristically interfere to the back of his mind and focuses on the task at hand. In front of him was the vanguard of his own army, a two-stage attacking force comprised of Warriors and Heroes. Arrayed on the walls of Cheve was a terrified medley of peasant archers and injured soldiers.

"Begin!" Xander calls out.

The Warriors rush forward with the ladders as his mages and archers provide cover fire against the walls, forcing the untrained Chevois peasants to cower. The Warriors quickly set up the ladders and brace them in place as the Heroes, one step behind, charge up the ladder with practiced ease.

 _It would be more useful to have a dedicated breaching unit._ Xander muses. _Might have to try that if I ever get to command a personal army._

The Heroes make their way to the top of the wall just as the covering fire stops and cuts their way into Cheve's surprised and overwhelmed defenders.

"Impressive." Gunter notes from Corrin's command tent. "It's a simple tactic, but to have drilled them to such a degree over a few days is certainly most impressive."

"He's not the crown prince for nothing." Corrin agrees. Her ears then pick up a strange sound in the air.

Xander hears it as well. _Damn._ He grits his teeth. "Tell the vanguard to hurry up and open the gate. I'll personally compensate them for any losses they may take." He says to a messenger.

The messenger manages to pass on the letter and the Heroes do manage to open the main gate. However, as the gate opens, a large, winged box overflies the Chevois skyline, circles over the Nohrian army in plain view, and then returns to land in the heart of Cheve.

"Fuck." Xander snarls.

"What was that?" Felicia asks from behind Corrin.

"That, I believe, was a signal." Gunter says, feeling his heart race at the show of force. "The Phoenix has decided to align themselves with Cheve to some degree, and that was a warning."

Flora absentmindedly wishes that a Phoenix warship would just fire on their position and make their point clearer already.

"So, then…oh hell." Corrin sees Xander mount up and charge towards the city. "What should we do?" She asks Gunter.

"We should follow them." Gunter also mounts up and offers a hand to Corrin. "Lest surprises happen."

…

"Alright, I think that got their attention." Brady smirks as the Firebrand touches down in the garden in front of the three knights' barracks. When the Firebrand made its appearance, the din of combat that rang over the city suddenly came to a halt. "Let's do this one right." He palms the radio on the plane. "To all members of the Nohrian military, this is the boss of Nestra speaking. We're here to negotiate with Cheve on its future relationship with the Phoenix Empire."

 _Shit._ Xander grits his teeth. "Ignore him." He calls out with the help of some (Nestra-purchased) voice amplification magic. "Cheve is a recognized part of the Nohrian Empire. The Phoenix is hereby kindly reminded to stay out of our internal affairs."

"'Internal affairs', he says." Ash chuckles toward the Chevois government rushing out to meet them. "Let's see how this works, yes?" He says to Brady, who nods readily.

…

As Ash and Brady negotiate with the Chevois ruling body, the rest of the Nohrian army slowly but steadily cut their way into the city. Given that the Phoenix showed up without an army, the Cheve guards fall to confusion and more or less retreat to strategic chokepoints within the city.

Xander, however, had other ideas.

"Corrin!" He calls out a command to her. "Take your retinue and capture the Cheve granaries! Laslow, the armory!"

The Nohrian troops disperse into the city and, like lightning, overwhelm and take the key points of the city.

"Is there a point to this?" Corrin asks Xander as the two of them sit and watch a part of the Cheve militia hunker down behind their barricades.

"In the event that the Phoenix annexes Cheve, I'd like to leave with at least a little to show for my efforts." Xander explains. "And if they don't, then we can force them to end this fight without further bloodshed."

Corrin nods, seeing the reasoning behind this argument.

 _Moreover, if we can capture some Phoenix heads, we can definitely ransom them for later._ Xander notes slyly. In a different part of the Chevois militia line, Inigo was busy cutting through their lines with his personal unit of Mercenaries. Perhaps as expected of Inigo, a good number of them are girls.

 _See if you can see a pattern._

"You're on form today again, captain." One of them cheers (Busty Blonde) as the rest of their enemies break and run.

"All in a day's work, darling." Inigo winks at her and wipes his sword. "Have the second and third units move up, we're digging in here."

"Not going to attack that box, cap?" His Lieutenant (Busty Redhead) asks. "It doesn't look like the thing is alive."

"Not worth the trouble." He points to the ominous looking object mounted on the rear of the Firebrand. "I've seen something like that in Nestra and lemme tell ya, it does not treat people kindly."

"Maybe Peri's unit can charge it from here?" The Lieutenant wonders.

"Good point." Inigo winces. "Tell Peri's unit to stay put…make it Xander's orders, too." He figures that the dreadfully chipper cavalier wouldn't listen to him unless it was an order from up high.

"It's that bad, huh?" They both look at one of Corrin's more rambunctious units charge toward the Firebrand for about ten steps before the rear-mounted chaingun tears them to shreds. "Yep, yep, it's bad." She shudders and turns away.

Either way, as the day progresses, the Nohiran troops encircle the rest of the Cheve militia and force them to dig in around the Firebrand, and both sides enter a stalemate.

…

[Some Time Later, 1st Person Camera]

…

I swear to god the Cheve government is trying to get itself killed. We've just spent the entire day talking in circles while the Nohr army move into position.

Cheve's position is basically: they want to maintain autonomy and have a guarantee from the Phoenix Empire, while also being 1) not a tributary, 2) not a protectorate, 3) not a vassal, and 4) not a territory.

In other words, they want us to foot the bill for their independence for entirely moral reasons.

I am, for the most part, not trying to establish the Phoenix Empire as a nation that moves on morals. We, like any other nation around the many worlds, operate for profit.

Cheve, of course, isn't into that kinda shit, and at the end of negotiations has more or less reached a dead point. I don't know if their stubbornness is because they're that optimistic about their situation, or else if they just have a shocking lack of understanding at the gravity of their current situation.

…But the fact that they adamantly refuse to left us to leave means that, at least, they know they're fucked if we do.

Ugh. You know what? I'm done with this.

"So be it." I stand from the table. "I can see that you have no intention to budge from your position." Our current offer was that 'we would guarantee Cheve independence so long as they do not engage in aggressive military action', which they rejected on the grounds that we'd be limiting their power as an independent state. I've played enough 4X games to know that they'll be the ones to drag me into a war then make off with the spoils. _Fuck_ that.

"We're leaving." I say to Brady.

"Fuckin' Finally." Brady shoots up to his feet.

"You're leaving our free state to die." The Cheve mayor warns. "Is that ok with you?"

I grunt. "If you're gonna be independent, then at least die like it." I wish they realize that I'm not a good guy.

…

The Chevois government follows us out, damning us about how unfair we're being the entire way. To be fair, we are being very unfair about this (we're trading lives for money, after all) but it's not like that ever changed.

Once outside, I can see the lines of defenses established around the Firebrand, along with Prince Xander and a (heroic?) Albino next to him. If memory serves, that's Corrin, yeah?

"It seems that your negotiations have finished." Xander calls out. "In the future, please direct all questions to the Nohrian government rather than one of our provinces."

Mmm…I want to know how badly he's been affected by the Burst. Inigo's already made a report about the fact that he _has_ , but he hasn't had the time to go into the details. "Until we leave Chevois airspace, the Phoenix Empire considers Cheve to be an independent nation-state." I reply.

"Of course." Xander unsheathes his sword. "I bid you good day and farewell, Emperor." He bows.

…What's up with that sword? It's giving off some rather serious magical power.

 _Xander then suddenly raises his arm._

Oh it's an ambush.

Arrows fly from all around us, and I erect a shield large enough to cover the Firebrand in return. The arrows bounce off of the big blue ball and do nothing. Fuck yeah mandatory shield training.

I grin at him. "Should I take this as a declaration of war, Prince Xander?" I'm not looking forward to this because we don't have the manpower to do a second war, but I have to keep up appearances.

"Hardly." Xander sneers back in response. "It is an exercise."

Out the corner of my eye, I can see Inigo being told to move in with his squad. Hmm.

…Well, I want to see how this plays out. "Get on the ship." I murmur to Brady.

"Yep." Brady does as he's told (largely because the Firebrand does have its own complement of personal weapons) and I make an overt show to turn my entire attention to Inigo.

"Cap, you're too far forward!" One of Inigo's Lieutenants shout as Inigo positively _bolts_ for me, a good thirty paces ahead of his squad.

 _We hit._

His sword goes underneath my arm and hit nothing, conveniently placing him next to my ear.

"Go easy on my party, Xander's being greedy." Inigo hisses quickly.

"Aye." I pat him reassuringly on the shoulder, then send him flying with a blast of wind. The rest of his party catches up and wow it's like all girls. The rest of his party catches up and get blasted away by wind. They need to eat more. Or less. I dunno, they're fucking busomy but can't take a blast of wind and…

…I can now hear movement behind me.

The…Corrin, has charged in with surprising speed and stealth. She's flanked by two Maids, a butler, and some old guy. Surprising that I couldn't detect any magic traces at all.

 _Corrin, with a shout, stabs forward with her sword._

Oh well. FALCON KICK!

 _We kick her in the stomach. Corrin's charge stops dead and she falls onto her back._

I think I knocked her out.

 _The maids (Fiora, Felicia) throw knives at a rapid pace._

No.

 _We block it with a wall of wind and blast them down in retaliation._

Consider yourselves lucky that I'm trying to actively avoid killing people. Plus, I don't really want to deal with the rest of this, so…yoink!

 _We pick up Corrin's unconscious body like it's a bundle of wood and toss her into the Firebrand. Gunter throws an axe our way, but we bat it away with more wind._

…Xander's a lot of things, but 'innately greedy' isn't one of his traits. I wonder why he's doing this?

 _We board the Firebrand again and the craft takes off just as Xander roars for his archers to open fire. Felicia jumps for the Firebrand, but it's much too fast for her._

Sadly for him, our flying winged box is too fast, and takes off back to Nestra.

…

Following this little event, Xander finishes conquering Cheve and puts its old government to the sword, replacing it with an entirely new Nohrian administration. Good for him…ish. Iago, Nohr's Definitely Evil Prime Minister, then supercedes Xander's orders and replaces Xander's group with one of his own choosing. Bad for Xander but potentially good for us, since if the administration turns out to be balls to the walls corrupt then we can march in, do a little shooting, and then annex our neighbors while being liberators. It's great.

…

And in Elibe (god I'm tired) the Etrurians lodged something like a victory against Bern's forces but lost the wargoal.

I'm still processing that report.

…

[3rd Person Camera, Elibe, 1300 hours]

…

On the Bern's side is the remnants of the Armes garrison, the reinforcement army, and the Phoenix Empire's mobile forces. On Etrurian's side is their gleaming 2nd army and two attached mercenary units.

"So that's the Bern army." The red-haired mercenary Hero Raven muses. "Funny that we'd meet with them again so soon."

His platonic(?) best friend Lucius the Bishop nods. "Albeit as enemies. What are our orders, Lord Raymond?"

"It would be nice if we can end this with a victory as it is." His platonic(?) younger sister Priscilla the Valkyrie agrees.

"Be that as it may," Her definitely not platonic husband Erk the Sage coughs. "We are here to perform a duty." He offers her his hand.

"Yes." Priscilla daintily takes it, daintily mounts her horse, and then not-so-daintily takes out an array of Bolting Tomes, ready to perform her duty.

"Your sister is terrifying, as always." Lucius chuckles. "She takes after you quite well."

"Lay off." Raven mutters, his ears turning red.

Following their stay with Eliwood's army, Raven and Lucius continued on path as mercenaries while Priscilla and Erk relocated to Etruria, with Erk officially graduating from his role as a pupil to a full-fledged teacher of magic on his own right. Years later, the Phoenix showed up in an official capacity.

The arrival of the Phoenix meant that Raven and Lucius found mercenary work drying up (at least within their usual operation areas), and the two of them wandered for some years until the Bern civil war sprung up, followed quickly by the Etrurian declaration on Bern.

Erk, having cultivated contacts in the rest of Etruria, learned about the declaration and the preparations before the actual conflict happened, and made contact with Raven by sheer coincidence. Not exactly keen to be pitted against his sister on the field of battle (again), Raven signed on with the Etrurians.

…Though, of course, they were now facing Bern and the Phoenix, and the Phoenix were seriously giving him some bad vibes.

"There they go." Lucius observes as the action starts.

The Etrurian army was currently stationed on gentle hill and arranged in two major lines: a front line of pike armor knights, and a back line of arbalest wielders. Behind them was the mage corp (where Raven's party was loitering around) and the Ilian Pegasus Knights hired by the army general.

Both armies spent the first few minutes skirmishing with magic, with Bern Fire clashing in the air with Etrurian Thunder, before the Etrurians bring out their lines upon lines of repeating arbalests. With the advantages of terrain and firepower, the Etrurian army rain bolts onto the Bern army.

"Yikes." Raven says with a low whistle. "Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that."

"Bern's armor isn't protecting them, either." Erk notes. "Not that they were much good to begin with."

…

Down at the Phoenix's mobile base, the field commander—a young woman with flowing purple hair—watches the action on a monitor with a finger on her chin.

"Etruria's doing really good." Akatsuki says. "What's the reading on their weapons?"

"It's a bit hard to tell from this distance, but there's a magic reaction." Her Lieutenant Hibiki says. "If I had to guess, I'd say that the munitions are enchanted somehow."

 _Silvery-whited haired Hibiki is now sporting a short, near bob-cut like look, making Ash slightly sad because…well, reasons._

Etrurian field mages mass-enchanted the bolts with wind (imported from the Phoenix Empire) to give them reduced air resistance. This, in conjunction with their stronger forging (also learned from the Phoenix Empire) meant that Bern armor was literally not stopping the bolts in any appreciable quantity.

Still, the two of them could see that Bern's ground forces were adapting quickly. Instead of spreading out to dilute the damage from magic, the troops quickly cluster into assault groups and charge to the Etrurian line. The Etrurians, not perfectly drilled to use their weapons, hesitated in picking targets and allowed the Bern troops to close.

Unparalleled at close distances, Bern's troops cut their way into the Etrurian lines, which flex in response without buckling.

Akatsuki then let out a small 'yip' as she heard an explosion from the battle.

"The hell was that?" Hibiki asks. "Magic explosion?"

"Sounded like it." Akatsuki says. "Surprised me." She peers a bit harder.

Bern's troops, as it turned out, carried little pouches of spirit dust mixed with bits of metal and a very special spell circle. As how Etruria adopted the crossbow and arbalest, Bern's infantry had adopted the grenade, though (mercifully for Etruria) only in small numbers.

The vanguard of Bern did not carry grenades, but the immediately following shock troops, the Bern Heroes and Warriors, did. Etruria, with their focus drawn entirely on the vanguard, reacted a wee bit too late to the little balls sailing into their midst.

With a series of explosions, the Etrurian front lines shatter in pieces, and Bern's vanguard roll in, sending Etruria into disarray. Bern's Paladins charge in with the opportunity and start dealing damage.

Etruria's army, though thrown into disarray, did not break, and frankly their weapons still worked fine.

"Eep." Akatsuki makes a frowny face as the two armies, now in melee range, start to rake in casualties. "This is not a pretty fight."

Within that non-pretty fight, Raven's Mercenaries were busy protecting the flanks of the fight against some of Bern's forces.

"Well this turned into a mess." Lucius sighs as he picks up an Etrurian Hero with his healing. "Should we pull back, Lord Raymond?"

"Not yet." Raven, double-wielding hand crossbows, pick off two Mercenarys (the unit type) with pinpoint precision. "We're acting as the post for the forces here."

"Aye." Erk rains fire onto some Archers. "Still, we should be aware of their new weapons." He sees one Hero reach into his pouch and get ready to throw something, before a bolt of lightning smacks him on the head and into the ground.

"I can see them from here." Priscilla says reassuringly. "Worry not, dear husband."

"I can see something else from here." Raven says, suddenly noting the increase of Wyvern Knights from Bern's side.

"Bern's knights are showing pockets of magic." Hibiki says after seeing the knights as well. "I'm pretty sure they have grenades strapped to them as well."

She was right.

For as long as Elibe could remember, Bern's Wyvern Knights tended to dive toward their targets when making a kill. Understandably, the other nations on the continent therefore adopted a 'if it's not coming at us, it's not a threat' mentality to Bern's knights—Javelins thrown at 200 feet away aren't dangerous, after all. Thus, it is also understandable that not a man in the Etrurian army blinked twice when the Bern's flight of rather imposing Wvyern Knights flew harmlessly over their heads.

A few of the soldiers, curious about both the overflying knights and the retreating Bern troops, decide to look up. Some of those soldiers see a rain of very small things fall very quickly into their ranks. A very, very select few of those soldiers get to see the end result.

"Holy shit." Lucius says (then inwardly excuses himself for blaspheming). "What's going on?!"

Bern had, through the liberal use of their grenades, conducted the first carpet bombing operation on Elibe.

"What the hell?!" Akatsuki demands. "We're supposed to do that!"

"So that's why they never let us near their Wyvern Knights." Hibiki muses. "Still, looks like they have some kinks to work out."

For a brief moment, the Etrurian side of the battlefield was doused with dancing flames, sending the troops into abject panic. Then the flames receded about as quickly as they started, and the Etrurian troops were…shocked, by the sudden change. Bern too, since they were expecting something a little more permanent.

The Etrurians rally just as the second wave of knights start to overfly them. The archers, now seeing that the knights are a clear threat, raise their arbalests and begin anti-air fire. Air units take critical damage from arrows, and the arbalests are powerful to a point of absurdity, and the Wyvern Knights start to die in droves. When a knight armed with grenades crash into the ground, they explode rather flamboyantly and take out a small group of people around them.

"Yuck." Akatsuki makes a disgusted face at the sheer amount of blood being spilled. "This is getting out of hand."

"Speaking of getting out of hand." Hibiki sighs. "Ilians at 330, coming in fast."

Akatsuki's palm meets her face. "Oh come on." She says, grouses some more, and finally, with a defeated sigh, says "fine, intercept."

Etrurian's Ilian mercenaries made their attack plan on the basis that A) the Etrurian general told them to stay away from the main battle (because Arbalests) and B) being 'a match for the Phoenix Empire' would boost their reputation and asking price substantially.

Sadly, they were not a match for the Phoenix Empire. As they dove with their javelins, the Phoenix IFVs and infantry aim their guns upwards, and the Ilians were met with what the Etrurians would hope that they get to develop.

The eerie wail of the IFVs' electrified cannons cause the battlefield to fall silent. More than a few soldiers stop what they were doing and glance nervously at the Phoenix's position. They do happen to catch the Ilians and their Pegasi raining from the sky.

The Bern troops, taking whatever heart they can from the sight, press harder into the Etrurian line.

"Well, in for a penny, in for a pound." Akatsuki grumbles. She had orders to generally keep out of the line of fire until attacked. "Assault formations, we're going in." She straps into her commander's seat.

"Aye." Hibiki does the same. "Driver, order to company."

Over the new few minutes, the remains of the Bern forces rally and, with the help of the incoming Phoenix units, cause the Etrurians to break and run.

…

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

So…

The mobile unit got involved, which was…unpleasant, but expected. Overall, Etruria won the fight but lost the war: Bern keeps the city but the army is fucked.

Also, we now know that the army was almost entirely from the King's Faction, and was apparently an independent deployment without his approval. Which is neato, because it means now that Zephiel's faction gets a massive leg up in terms of position because, and I honestly did not know this before, Bern doesn't use mercenaries in their formal armies.

 _Over the next few days Zephiel would use this fact (that the King's Men Needed Outside Help) as a way to showing the waning of the King's strength. Given that the Phoenix was shown to be overwhelming, it turns out to be rather effective._

So…yeah. That…was a thing. I'll have to think about a strategy with Ilia, if only because I don't like the idea of killing troops from a nation who's only export is pretty anime girls. I dunno, maybe we can have like a gentlemen's agreement for them to avoid our units, though after that fight I think it'll be a given, or something.

Either way, losses on both sides were exceptionally heavy, like… 'this is the beginning of world war 1 and what is a machinegun?' heavy. Unless Etruria has reserves, this is the end of their current campaign for at least the next year or so…though, the presence of rapid-fire arbalests, arbalests in general, and what is probably a larger scale manufactory for those things is…worrying. A little.

Hmm.

Well, that's for Nino to worry about. If nothing else, this was a great way to show just how bullshit powerful our troops were, and to suss out any deployment issues we have and then fix them.

…As for me…

 _Upon landing back at base, Corrin was immediately detained and placed under house arrest._

Fortunately she was asleep through the whole ordeal. Why does her pants not have…the inner thigh parts? That seems kinda weird…

 **Would you actively target that area?**

Uh…fair point? But still, in pitched battle I don't think people cares…anyways, we have a Heroic Albino to interrogate, so that'll have to happen tomorrow.

…

So to recap.

Elibe: at war.

Jugdral: we're about to send it into a war (hope not but let's be honest here).

Tellius: things are starting to happen, but Tiki receives favorable impressions.

Subcontinent: "The Fuck, Mate?"™

Magvel: All's quiet except for the jumping spiders.

…

I need to: figure out what makes Corrin tick, figure out what makes the subcontinent tick, and…I dunno.

…

Life was a lot easier as a main side character.

 _Yeah?_

Yeah. Somebody else gets to call the shots and all I had to do was critique it, rather than…I dunno, hold the reins to incredible power and send tens of thousands to their deaths over a decision made on information that's never 100% accurate.

…hmm.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

The writing gets harder when the scale gets bigger.


	10. Part 8: The War Begins

{ === + === }

[3rd Person Camera]

…

As Xander watches the Firebrand fly away, he turns his confusion to the two closest people in attendance: Inigo and Gunter, both of whom had charged forward with him in order to rescue the captive princess.

"Why in the nine hells did she do that?" Xander demands.

"I believe it may be because she felt like she had to contribute." Gunter says darkly. "Though now she's captured."

Xander facepalms. "My word." He points to Gunter. "Sir Gunter, get Corrin's retinue and enter Nestra. See if you can arrange for her return."

Gunter raises an eyebrow. "Just like that?"

"The Phoenix hold their laws and equality to be paramount." Xander nods yes. "They will not do you harm."

"If I may." Inigo senses an opportunity. "Your lordship, I believe I can be of service should they depart for Nestra."

Xander thinks it over for a second. "So be it."

"Nestra's not far from here, and it's still bright." Gunter observes. "We'll leave immediately."

Gunter's party leaves for Nestra about fifteen minutes later. The remainder of Corrin's army gets folded into the main Xander army, and both groups start occupying Cheve as Xander and his subordinates plan for their next course of action.

…

[Next Day]

…

Corrin wakes up in an extremely comfortable bed.

She sits up and looks around. _Where am I?_ She thinks as she takes in the room with its surprisingly bright walls, large window/door/something, and an assortment of fine furniture. Her armor sits on a table, washed and polished.

Corrin looks down to see the t-shirt and shorts she's wearing (though she doesn't recognize the clothes to have those names). "What was I doing?" She wonders aloud. "Last thing I remember was…"

She then acutely remembers being elbowed in the chest.

"So…I'm in Nestra?" She asks the air. Intrigued by the bright, wall-sized glass, she gets up and pulls back the drapes. The resulting sunlight makes her squeak in surprise, and she has to take a second to let her eyes adjust. Her room (basically a studio apartment) overlooks the main path leading to the Nestran military base, and she takes in the ominous warship docked in the distance…as well as the gaggles of rambunctious populace milling the streets below her.

Entranced, she jumps at the sound of a knock on her door. "Yes?" She blurts out before making an unnecessarily theatrical leap into her bed.

"Are you dressed?" Ash's voice calls through a speaker above the door.

"I…uh, am." Corrin smooths out the bed as much as she can and try to look as if she just woke up.

"Excuse me, then." The door unlocks.

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

…She has no sense of what 'being dressed' is, I see. She's basically still in her sleeping wear, sitting on the bed. It's unnecessarily ruffled.

 _Upon seeing our entrance, Corrin instinctively shrinks into herself and hugs a pillow for safety._

Well, whatever. "How was your rest, Princess Corrin?" I'm also just in T-shirt and slacks, so it's not like I have the room to judge.

"…It was pleasant." Corrin replies cautiously. "What do you want from me?"

Hmm. "First of all, why did you try to kill me?"

"I did no such thing." Corrin says, a bit of royalty seeping into her voice. Also, what?

Seriously. "Did you forget?" I make a 'do you recognize my face' kind of gesture.

"I…" Corrin stares at me a little more before comprehension dawns on her face. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" Her hands fly to her mouth. "Or not sorry?" She cocks her head. "I mean, you were an enemy."

"Hm." Note to self: get her an optometrist. "Depending on what you have to say, you may be forgiven." I gesture to her bed. "Sit. I have some questions for you."

…

[Questioning]

…

Hmm.

So…

I learned…absolutely nothing.

 _Note: some of the following information are found out days or weeks after our first questioning._

Corrin, for as long as she can remember, has been holed up at the fortress. Her view on the outside world is essentially shaped entirely by her retainers Gunter, Felicia, Flora, and Jakob, and what she can glean from the outside world by the occasional visiting noble (likely sent by Garon going by Gunter's testimony).

Of her close retainers, we know of Felicia and Flora. They're (effectively) nobles, children of the Ice Tribe Chieftain that had to be given up in exchange for continued frosty relations with the _ow_ Nohr government.

 **You deserved it.**

 _Grima nettled us in the head for that shitty pun._

I guess did deserve it. My memory of them is a bit hazy but I feel like I've seen them before as kids…it's been a few years.

Gunter is a retired knight of Nohr. Supposedly he was quite strong during his prime, but apart from one time where he suddenly gained a three-rank promotion, his time in service was not spectacular. Magically he's pretty strong (I guess), making him about equal to a rank-and-file Phoenix trooper, though physically he's…past his prime, I suppose.

For the record, three ranks in Nohr is a big deal, but not earthshaking. If, say, Xander was a common captain and had conquered Cheve he would have been eligible for that kind of promotion. Gunter was a common captain at the time, so…yeah.

Last…Jakob. As far as we can tell he's just a butler. A devoted and exemplary one, but nothing noteworthy otherwise. No noble lineage, no special powers, so on, so forth. He's just damn good at making tea.

 _Silas, being a squire, isn't noted as a member of her retinue. While he was in the reports, we just skimmed over his name due to the fact that it was buried with, like, thirty other names._

Overall, Corrin education has been handled mostly by Gunter and Flora, with Gunter handling mostly military matters and Flora politics. She also does not remember anything about Kamui, so…yeah. As much as capturing a princess is great, she's god awful at doing just about everything and has no value. Bah.

 _Some of this information we find out from putting them under the Phoenix Standard in subsequent questionings. As a side effect to the truth-forcing Standards, Flora's on suicide watch, with options being mulled on how to get her a psychiatrist without her noticing._

"Are those all of your questions?" Corrin asks after our questions.

"More or less." I stand up. Corrin's currently lodged here at an apartment building close to the military base and is effectively under soft house arrest. Reason why we use a civilian building? Simple, really: all of Nestra is basically a prison if I want to go that way. Police State™. "Though I'm not happy that you tried to kill me, the fact remains that you…uh, couldn't do it if you tried."

Corrin isn't sure how to make of that statement, so she settles on looking glum and confused.

Now onto the meat of the scenario. "In any case, until further notice you are considered a prisoner of the Phoenix Empire." She looks shocked in response. "You'll have free movement around the city, but you cannot leave the premises without an escort."

She looks extremely shocked. "What? Why?"

…Because you attacked me. "Because as of yesterday, the Phoenix Empire and Nohr are technically at war." Fucking Xander. "Please understand that as long as you follow the rules, you will be unharmed."

Corrin opens her mouth but no sound comes out, and then she sulks. Well, whatever.

I stand to leave with a small bow to this…confused princess. When outside, I address the gaggle of people waiting anxiously for a meet and greet. "You may enter." I say with a jerk of my head to the door.

"Master!" Pink hair (Felicia?) jumps into the room. "You're unhurt!" She hugs Corrin.

 _So…_

Yeah. As of…2200 hours yesterday, Corrin's close retinue arrived and demanded to see us to negotiate for Corrin's release. Obviously that can't happen, so I'm allowing them visitation for the time being. We have Spider Webs installed in Corrin's clothes, so…yeah. Whatever secrets they're going to talk about, we're going to find out. We'd find out anyway with the Standards, but this is good training for when our dudes can't use said Standards.

…Though at the moment it sounds like Gunter's just ripping Corrin a new one for being impulsive. Heh.

 _One of the gaggle of people (Inigo) give Corrin a cursory greeting before backing out on the pretext of being a guard._

"Yo." I greet him as we move a little down the hallway. "How's it going, man?"

"Hello, sire." Inigo bows politely. "Xander's being a dumbass, but otherwise things are going fine." He sighs and scratches his head.

Yeah, that was…a strange decision. "Has Xander been changed any by the Burst?"

Inigo shakes his head no. "Not overtly, I think. He definitely has something planned, but I…don't think this was the best way to do it."

No shit. "Well, what do you have for me?"

…

[3rd Person Camera, Same Day, Cheve]

…

Xander's second-guessing his own decision.

 _Well, losing Corrin was an unexpected side effect._ He summarizes. _But at least we got the war we needed._ He inwardly smirks at the gathered captains and commanders, all unanimous in their decision to bring the hurt to Nestra.

Sitting next to Xander was Iago, sent in a hurry to help plan the civil aspect of Cheve's integration. _Damn him._ Iago seethes while throwing some serious side-eye at Xander. _Thanks to his impulsive action, we now have to delay our campaign on Hoshido. As I thought, the young prince is far too naïve in his handling of an army._

 _I know what you're thinking, Iago._ Xander muses, catching the side-eye but showing no overt reaction. _And I know what this new Nohr is trying to do._ "Vote?" Xander says as the dialogue starts to die down.

The vote around the table was unanimous to an assault on Nestra—the civil servants brought by Iago certainly helped take the military's mind off of using men for defense.

"Then it's decided." Iago says, measuring Xander's every move. "We move at dawn."

Xander's response is a simple, solemn nod.

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

Urg.

So, let's back up a second. The reason why I had Inigo report in is because of his position. Severa, Inigo, and Owain have pretty high stations in Nohr now, acting almost as the right hands of their respective lords. This means that they have progressively less and less time to properly report to their support team, and we'd get less accurate information about Nohr's insides.

The less we say about Hoshido's insides, the better. God that place is hard to crack.

Still…based on Inigo's report, it sounds like Nohr's nobles are eyeing Hoshido's border territories and are preparing for an invasion. One of Nohr's attributes is that, due to its rather egalitarian nature, armies can be raised and mustered extremely quickly and are moved around without much need of a formal command structure. I can imagine that Hoshido will get surprised by this mobilization speed, but post-Burst Nohr and Hoshido military conventions are hard to guess at.

…But then, if they're moving against Hoshido…why us? As far as Inigo could tell, Xander has said nothing about actions against Nestra until, y'know, yesterday.

If I had to guess and did not know what kind of person Xander is, I would think that he wants to hone his army against Nestra. Except Nestra is less of a whetstone and more of a blast furnace, and I'm pretty sure he knows that. So…why?

Hmm. Well, Corrin attacking us was more or less just a whim action on her part (a fucking awful action) but hey, his funeral.

Ugh.

…

[Next Day]

…

UGH. SERIOUSLY.

"Fuckin' boy's got a screw loose." Brady says with a yawn as we all convene in the sensors room. "What've you got for us?"

"Well…that." The operator puts the readings of her display onto a big wall display in front of us. We see, very clearly, the edges of the territory of the Nestrian administration, the trackers we put there, and a pretty sizable glob of blips headed towards us on the highway we built between Cheve and Nestra.

The highway's a big dirt path on the Cheve side, and the closest thing to a paved three-lane highway on ours. It's good for marches and tanks.

At the moment, Xander's army have crossed the border and is actually marching on Nestra. I don't even know anymore. At least it's nice to see a substantial speed increase when their boots hit our highways.

"When did this happen?" Brady asks.

"At around 0600 this morning." The operator says, which…let's see…was about two hours ago. "At their current rate of progress, they'll be at Nestra by the afternoon."

Why. Xander. Why. Why you do this.

"Aerial scouts put their numbers at about three thousand." The operator says.

…three? "Did they have three thousand when they're hitting Cheve?" Seems high for an army that needed to put in garrisons.

The operator nods. "I think they've been reinforced by additional troops from Nestra." That would explain it.

…Huh. Interesting _._ "Cool. I'm heading out."

Brady blinks. "You sure, boss? I'm damn sure they can't get near the walls."

"I'm sure." I nod. "I'd rather not tear up the land if we can help it, and I feel like I need to punch Xander's head into his nuts." Or the other way around, I'm not picky.

"Cool." Brady nods as well. "I'll get my guards and we'll accompany you." Right, that's a thing.

I don't mind in the slightest and turn to one of the attendants waiting on us. "Soldier, can you make a call to Tiki? I'd like to have a little backup at Nestra in case things go pear shaped."

"Yes, sir." The attendant bows.

…

[3rd Person Camera, Xander's Army]

…

Xander's army, comprised of a mix of his core troops, all of Corrins' remnants, and some sections of Iago's retinue (along with Iago himself), march towards Nestra in the crisp morning.

More than one person was unhappy with Xander's decision. "Was it necessary to leave so early, prince?" Iago yawns atop his horse. "This seems rather rash."

"If we are to march to Nestra, then it serves us best to attack before they are able to muster a response." Xander says. "I'm sure we've already been detected, after all." He, having been exposed to a Pegasus Knight's stealth coating, is a little more aware of how they work, and was thus the only one in the army to have noticed a little gleam of light over their heads that showed up as soon as they crossed the border.

"Nestra's so powerful they're almost superhuman." Iago says with all the hints of sarcasm. "It's hard to believe that they actually exist."

Xander shrugs. "Should I be laughed at, I'd rather it be at my naivety than my foolishness."

Iago rolls his eyes. As far as he cares, Xander was both naïve and foolish. Naïve enough to believe in the rumors of a nation with godlike strength…and foolish enough to be willing to throw his troops at it _anyway_.

Still, the army marched onwards towards Nestra. As they entered deeper into Nestrian territory, the soldiers could not help but marvel at the rate at which their surroundings became greener and more fruitful.

"Damn shame we're not allowed to loot." One Warrior grumbles, his eyes firmly locked on a small patch of young apple trees. "They got all the good stuff. Wouldn't miss a few trees here or there."

His buddy has a more optimistic look on things. "If we take Nestra, all this is ours. We can loot it until it burns to the ground then."

"I feel like if we torch a tree we're not doing a good job of being a looter." Their more level-headed friend chimes in. "I mean, it's a tree."

"Good thing we're not on look-out duty or else we'd all be dead." Warrior D says slyly.

"What's there to look out for?" Warrior A says dismissively. "I've seen Nestra before, and if they want us dead then there's nothing we can do about it." His attitude did not make him any more liked by his friends or the people around him listening in. "They have these huge things in their military base that can apparently shoot for miles."

"Longer weapons are not as accurate." Warrior B says sagely. "So I can't imagine those things being very useful."

"Maybe it's just a decoration." Warrior C offers before he nearly walks into the person in front of him. "What gives, man?"

"The line's stopped." Warrior D notes.

It was true, the line was indeed stopped. The four of them crane their necks to see exactly why the column had stopped. As far as they could tell, it was because of a single man on the road. The four of them surmises that the man must be important, because Prince Xander was riding forward to meet said man.

Warrior A squints. "He looks familiar."

…

Prince Xander, upon reaching good negotiating distance, dismounts and faces the man before him.

"Good day to you, your highness." He says with a polite bow. "To what do I owe this visit?"

"Good day to you, too, Xander." Ash says with a light sigh. "The hell do you think you're doing?"

"I am performing the duties as expected of a future head of state." Xander says levelly. "As you are aware, we are currently at war. I plan to invade and take Nestra and secure Nohr's southern coast."

Ash's eyebrows go up. _And he says all of this without missing a beat._ He thinks. "That's cute and all, but exactly what are you hoping to accomplish? I hope you understand that the only reason why all of you are still walking is because I'm being nice about all this."

"It is the duty of a state to safeguard its interests." Xander says firmly. "As such, I will do what I must for the future of Nohr."

Ash rolls his eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, yeah. Look, man, just take your army and go home."

"You will do well to mind your manners." Iago snaps at him. "Nestra may be famed, but it is no match for the might of Nohr." He missed the opening pleasantries and did not have the best memory for faces.

Ash, also not having the best memory for faces, points to Iago and directs a question at Xander. "Who's this dumbass?"

"I am Iago, the royal advisor to the king himself." Iago hisses back. "You will do well to remember it, boy." He actually doesn't remember seeing Ash at all, since Ash was currently wearing field armor and not a black suit.

Ash would've rolled his eyes again had he cared. "Fun. Either way, Xander, take your boys home. If you don't, you will be down an army today and down a Cheve tomorrow. Moreover, your sisters will likely be down a brother, and I'm trying _really_ hard not to do that."

"Your care for your foes is exemplary, Ash." Xander draws his sword. "But understand that it is unnecessary." He takes a deep breath. "To all men of the Xander army!"

 _Oh, good, here we go._ Ash sighs deeply and heavily.

"The man standing before me is none other than the leader of the Phoenix Empire himself, Ash!"

 _I could have just shivved him right now._ Ash taps his feet in agitation.

"Bring me his head!" Xander's army roars behind him.

Before anyone (Xander included) could take a step, Ash simply turns around and flies away.

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

Well, ok, hmm.

 _We are now about fifty feet in the air. Underneath us, the Xander army is tracking our every move while going "he can fly?!"._

Xander didn't seem like he lost his marbles, which means he's trying a calculated thing. Which means he's trying to slam his army into Nestra and get it killed…which…I still don't understand why he's doing that.

But hey, his funeral.

 _Arrows, Javelins, and balls of magic start zooming our way._

Ok…well…I'm still leery on just killing them all like this.

 **You know, you could use more laborers in Jugdral.**

That's true…hm. Alright, then let's go with that. Let's take some prisoners.

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

"Oh that is bad news." Warrior A says as the sky begins to glow with magic power. "That is seriously bad news."

The Dark Mage next to him, upon getting a feel of the magical power involved, goes "Fuck this, I'm out" and starts running in the opposite direction. Warrior A, by virtue of being a veteran Warrior, decides to follow suit.

 _That fast, huh?_ Xander notes upon seeing his more magic conscious troops turn tail and run. "Fall back!" He orders, hops on his horse, and begins riding forwards, towards Ash, in an effort to pass underneath him. However, very quickly his horse stopped and refused to move.

Behind him, the Dark Mage was experiencing a similar confusion. He had run to the back of the line and was about to break free from the battle area before he suddenly slammed into something hard and invisible. The impact knocks him back.

The Warrior, too, slams into that something. "The hell?" He rubs his head while trying to feel out exactly what he hit. It felt like…a wall? But invisible, somehow. He looks around to see that, yes, all around him, his fellow soldiers were more or less experiencing the same thing. All around him, soldiers were hitting this invisible wall around the battlefield.

The Warrior's eyes drew a pattern based on the soldiers milling about, and found out very quickly that the wall seemed to be circular. It takes him a moment, but the implications of that circular wall cause him to shudder and look up.

Ash by now has finished charging his spell, and he let it run amok on the battlefield with a simple snap of his fingers.

The Warrior, feeling like he was very much underpaid for this, cowers into a small ball and hopes _really, really hard_ that the spell being used was not going to be fatal for everyone involved.

To his luck, the spell being used was, indeed, not fatal for everyone involved—or, at least, the damage portion of it.

Ash had used two spells: one to create a magic wall that repelled anyone who tried to pass it but did not have a high enough magic score, and one that was basically a large area stun. The stun, incidentally, is also technically not strong enough to pass through the wall, and therefore constantly bounce around within the circular wall and just continue to stun the bejesus out of everybody that's inside that ring.

"Our boss comes up with some crazy shit." One of Brady's retinue comments as they observe from a safe distance.

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

The spell lasts for about five minutes, by which time everyone's just overjuiced and…well, not mobile. The stun's kinda…temporary magic overdose. By permeating the target with bullshit amounts of raw magic (not used as fire/wind/thunder etc) the body can be forced to shut down for a significant amount of time. The thunder effect was just added as a cosmetic so I can visually track where the spell's going. Good for seeing any missed targets or whatnot.

Anyhoo, looks like this about solves the problem of this army, so let's do what we really have not done yet, and take all of them as slaves.

Police State™.

…

…

…

It takes us some time. Brady gets some wood and carts and we literally jerry rig some flatbeds to be towed by the Firebrand, and somewhere in the middle Tiki shows up and the two of us help carry the three thousand or so people onto the carts and choker them for slave purposes. Notably, we caught Xander but not Iago, so I assume that means the dude's a lot stronger than he was pretending to be. Note to self: bring portable anti-teleportation in the future.

Anyhow, it takes us some time, but eventually the Firebrand drags the carts of people back into Nestra to be processed. Since all of them were POWs, ransom was set to around 100 gold per level per person (promoted units start at 2000 gold), and any equipment they had were confiscated, valued, and then transported to Elibe as additional business, with the value of their equipment subtracted from the soldier's ransom. Any coin we found were confiscated and subtracted as an average from all of the soldier's ransoms (so nobles can't easily buy their way out of slavery).

In the end, after all those modifiers, the average soldier owed about 600 gold in ransom, which…was kinda surprising, but since Nohrian weapons tend to be of a superior make than their…uh, non-continent counterparts, they tend to fetch a pretty penny.

 _Hoshidan weapons tend to fetch less, since they're more specialized in their construction and wielding technique._

A merc in Elibe can use a Nohrian Sword without issues. A Hoshidan katana…less so.

Anyways, since the average soldier still owes about six hundred, we're basically going to transport them to Jugdral in about two weeks (need time to get ransom) and then make good use of them for like two months.

 _Ultimately, about 70% of the army was ransomed away and the rest spends around one month to pay off their sentences, not counting travel time._

…

Though I'm ransoming away the army, there's obviously one guy that I'm not sending away: Xander. I need to pick his brain to see exactly what the hell made him do something this stupid. Moreso since I was on scene and have stupidly overpowered spells.

…

[Xander's Brain Gets Picked]

…

The picking process involves both a normal interview and an interview under the Phoenix Standard. In his normal interview, he's told to give answers as truthfully as possible, or else "there may be repercussions", though obviously we did not elaborate. Between the two interviews his answers didn't change a whole lot (some minor details shifted) so he was at least quite truthful.

Anyways.

The primary reason for why Xander tried to march onto Nestra was to shock the Nobles of Nohr. The reason for that…shock…was to drill it into Nohr's head that their army was not as superior as it had seemed.

In a nutshell, Nohrian nobles were calling (and voting) overwhelmingly in favor of a concerted attack on Hoshido through the northern coast and the Gorge through uses of what he called "Dragon Veins". These Dragon Veins, when used by Nohrian or Hoshidan ruling nobles (like himself) would alter the landscape to their favor.

I assume this means the nations of the two countries led by ruling nobles would act as checks against each other like some kinda geographic game of chicken. One side tries to make a rock bridge while the other side digs it out and force a collapse. The soldiers on both sides just hate themselves, probably.

Anyways, that was their plan, with accompanying soldier movements to match (we caught some of that). By attacking Nestra early, Xander figures, he would be able to get his army fucked up good and proper, thus causing the other nobles to maybe think twice about committing to a larger scale attack on Nestra that would inevitably fail and cost them tens of thousands.

…Except as we've seen from our surveillance, Xander's army of three thousand is one of the larger (if not the largest) army Nohr has so far, so I don't think he thought that one through very well. That said, now that _the entire army_ has seemingly been swallowed by Nestra, I think he'll get his point across.

As for the 'why'…apparently Nohrian nobles tend to get a wee bit carried away when martially successful, and mob mentality makes them think that they're invincible. Hmm.

Well, whatever. I can't say if Xander's plan was very well thought out (it wasn't) but his reasoning was at least…conceivable. That…guy…what was his name?

 **Iago.**

Ah, yeah. The parrot ran away and…depending on his messaging, Xander may or may not get the desired response he was looking for. Hmm.

 _The below occurs a few days later, after we've pumped Xander's brain for information._

For the record, during the interrogating process we stationed Xander in the military base and stripped him of his armor and weapons. And we confined him to quarters (a spartanly-furnished officer room). He's a POW, after all.

 **So was Corrin.**

Yeah, but she's cute, so she gets special treatment. Anyways, we've been conversing on and off and have brought up the idea of releasing him. His ransom is pretty low—150 gold—so it's not that out of the ordinary.

"Do I get to take Corrin with me?" Xander asks.

Well. "No." I shrug. "Her ransom's still at two thousand." Since we seized none of Corrin's assets her ransom naturally hasn't changed any. I would have set it at, like, three hundred since she's apparently pretty low level, but that would be too easy on her.

 _Our level mechanisms are estimated based on their magic output. It is, to say the least, not very accurate._

"Why are you keeping her around?" Xander asks again. "She has no strategic use to you or your country."

Well. "Eh?" I shrug. I actually, legitimately don't know why we're keeping her around, beyond the fact that she's probably a heroic albino and, under Fire Emblem Logic, would be some kind of god-slaying monster in like twenty chapters. "Once she pays off her bail, I'll think about it."

So anyways, Xander's status gets upgraded into a Political Prisoner (same as Corrin) and he gets transferred to a room in roughly the same area.

…

Which means that, naturally, the siblings meet on the next day. Corrin looks like she was about to run and hug him before stopping herself, and the two exchanges stiff but polite pleasantries instead, likely on the account of me being in attendance. Also Corrin's two maids are here for some reason.

"What are you doing here, brother?" Corrin asks cautiously.

"I have been defeated on the field of battle." Xander says breezily. "And am thus a prisoner of war."

Corrin looks surprised at that. "You? But…" She looks between me and Xander with some confusion.

Hey. "I don't look it but I _am_ powerful." I say with a grin. It's a good thing that nobody takes me seriously, but I should consider getting a suit of Obviously Evil Final Boss Armor made or something.

"He managed to subdue my entire army without a single casualty." Xander says. "For that, I have my thanks, albeit begrudgingly."

To be perfectly fair, his army had about 350 casualties but zero fatalities. The spell's pretty low power, but it's not entirely safe.

"So what happens now, your highness?" Flora asks me directly. "Are my master and Prince Xander to be kept in Nestra indefinitely?"

"No, nothing of the sort." I say and explain the ransom system as well as how much they owe. "Pay that off and you're free to go."

"one hundred and fifty gold is not a large sum." Flora says and…oh that's neat. She has her maid outfit and a belt over it around her waist. She has pockets on that belt, and from those pockets she pulls out something like 40 gold. "Felicia?"

"Um…" Felicia rummages around her comparatively less well-kept outfit and fishes out about 15 gold.

Flora sighs. "Felicia, stay with the master. I will return shortly." She curtseys and leaves, probably to fetch Corrin's other servants to rob them of their pocket money.

"And what of Corrin?" Xander asks Felicia. "It seems rather crass to neglect the needs of your own master."

Felicia just looks flustered. "Well, u-um…" She looks around for a way out. "That's…"

My turn! "Since Corrin's technically a slave of the Phoenix Empire, I can find her something to do." Xander and Felicia both flinch at the term. Understandable.

"What do you have in mind?" Xander asks with a rather dangerous tone.

Hmm. Since Corrin might be important later, it might be beneficial to me to train her to be open-minded and flexible. No sense growing a Nohr Nationalist by mistreating her. "I'll have to look into any specifics, but for the time being I give her some work around the docks."

Xander nods slowly, cautiously. "You will not, I assume, transfer her to some remote island away from here?"

I've thought about it, but I shake my head no. "There would be no benefit."

…

…

After an hour or so, Flora bundles together Corrin's party and together they scrounge up 150 gold worth of ransom for Xander, and he's official set free. Sadly, we pawned off his armor and weapons so he doesn't get those back. His everything was of a very fine make, but was nothing of immense notice.

 _At this point Xander does not have Siegfried._

He's set free on the next day with his horse and a Get Well Soon card, for no other reason than it amused me and I wield supreme power.

…

[3rd Person Camera]

…

Xander's inglorious return to Windmire some five days after his release was met first with derision, then shock. Once the initial sense of "ha-ha look at how badly he lost" had set in, nobles around Nohr came to realize that Nestra, upon meeting an army of 3000, had captured and defeated it in its entirety within what was basically five minutes.

Iago, notably, did not return to Windmire upon the army's defeat, instead retreating to Cheve. He had spun a story of being told to return to Cheve due to outstanding issues with its governance, and therefore (when recalled upon Xander's return) reacted with genuine shock at Xander's defeat. Xander, figuring that Iago was plotting something and honestly not in a political situation to complain, accepts Iago's version of the story as it is told.

This defeat cemented three points within Nohr's government, none of which Xander had expected.

One: Nohrian military strategists learn from Ash's example and place more weight on the use of large-scale magic. As a result, more money is placed into battlefield-affecting spells ('Siege' spells) and personal reinforcement spells (buffs).

Two: Nohrian strategic planning simply pushes the conquering of Nestra back, and considers a two-pronged, maybe three-pronged attack from Nestra, Izumo, and the sea a requirement rather than a strong suggestion. This ensures that the armies poised to conquer Hoshido are given additional resources and move their timetable forward.

Three: Nohr's eventual conquest of Nestra was now considered a given, and assassination plans were drawn up against Ash on the basis that, if he lived, any attack on the city would be impossible.

"I think I was too naïve." Was Xander's summary on the whole ordeal. Instead of slowing down Nohr for at least months, its army was now more motivated to attack and to attack faster.

Inigo personally found this strange. While it was true that Nohr's armies were more decentralized, making the loss of one army simply damaging rather than crippling, the rate at which Nohr drew up more men and the relative sophistication of its plans felt…off, for the amount of time Nohr existed after the Burst. It was as if Nohr had planned for something like this for months…years, even. The Burst changed thoughts, certainly, but it could not change the amount of bodies in Nohr, so…where did the extra population come from?

He puts his musings in his next report, which Nestra takes with a "ok, that's neat, but what do we do with this information?"

…

One week following Xander's return to Nohr, its armies attacked Hoshido in earnest. From three breach points over the Gorge the armies of Xander, Camilla, and Leo storm across suddenly constructed earthen bridges and strike into enemy territory. Following the initial invasion, the three royal children hit all thirty dragon veins their scouts have found, effectively breaking the defensive capability of the Gorge for the foreseeable future.

Hoshido had prepared a defense, but most of their defenses were established with three assumptions in mind: one, that Nohr would attack through the most well-built bridges across the Gorge (of which there were a few), and that whatever attack would be hampered by the poor terrain. As such, Hoshidan defense was staggered on the Gorge and the path down into Hoshidan territory, making supply easier on the basis that the time cost of reinforcing for an attack would be offset by being able to, say, cut one of these well-built bridges and sending the entire Nohr army into the depths.

And, last but not least: if Nohrian royalty were seen, then the Hoshidan royalty would be alerted to combat any potential manipulations of the Dragon Vein. Sadly, the Hoshidan royalty travelled with the skill of Dressing Down, pretending to be mere footsoldiers, and their travel to the border was entirely missed by the Hoshidan spies watching the roads looking for finery and large retinues.

Since Nohr's attack didn't follow either of two remaining assumptions, Hoshido's advanced guard was summarily overwhelmed and the supporting units found themselves forced to attack into serious disadvantage and, in effect, allowed Nohr to establish a chokehold.

Slight side effect of having the high ground: shooting magic down is a lot easier than shooting up, and the advancements in Nohr's siege magic—slight as they may be—allowed them to soften the Hoshidan armies whenever they clumped, though the raw damage output was pretty nonexistent.

…

[1st Person Camera, One Month Later]

…

Hoo boy.

So, Nohr hits Hoshido last month and are now at the base of the gorge, where, predictably, they're having trouble breaking through.

Fun fact about Nohr's shitty land: it's very good training for fighting across shitty land, such as, say, the terrain of the Gorge.

At the present, Nohr's basically stuck on the cusp of the Gorge's badlands, where the rocky, jagged terrain is more or less replaced by shrubby grasslands. Hoshido's really good in shrubby grasslands.

…Well, their training is really good in shrubby grasslands, but same difference, really.

I'm pretty surprised at how well Nohr punched through, to be honest. I figured that the border towns dedicating a garrison to the Gorge would have troops trained to fight in that environment, but I guess Nohr got to them first?

Either way.

So…um…right! We're now no longer at war with Nohr. Well, "war". For the low low price of one Cheve, I promised not to send napalm into Windmire. Windmire is such a napalm-able city it borders on war crimes.

Cheve is…perhaps not the most friendly of cities (insular folk) and certainly don't take kindly to how Nestra _could_ have saved them with no losses but chose not to. To which my response is "you were independent and I respect your national sovereignty." Which…y'know, is a little bit mean because as of that conversation two weeks ago Cheve is no longer independent.

The terms are pretty simple: Cheve's tax structure is overhauled to be in line with the Phoenix's expectations and they have to adopt a court of law along with a Phoenix Standard (caused a lot of trouble with that one). In return they get economic and defensive benefits, and we respect their local tradition of believing that dead people become stars.

…I wonder if that means they used to be spacefaring folk? Like…y'know, eject people from orbit and they burn up in the atmosphere?

 _Or else they could just be very romantic._

Anyways, with Cheve under our control, the borders of Nestra is now…well, not _that_ much larger, but it is still kinda large. The river that runs near Cheve ultimately does run to the sea, so I made an agreement with Nohr to have that river act as the natural border between Nestra and Nohr proper. Fun fact: the other river north of Nestra (the natural barrier one) is a tributary to the Cheve river, so I was also able to get Nestra's borders extended to there as well.

The Nestran River comes from the mountain, so the barrier there is a bit ambiguous…but then we have listening pod scattered there, so if anybody decides to try something sneaky we'll know long before they make it down. Still, good times.

…That said, it's not as if we have the resources to make use of this new land, so it's basically just colored lines on a map now. Having the river be the divider makes things easier to remember though. Sucks for the map makers who just got their stuff finished, but…y'know, dem's the breaks.

 _So, what are we doing now?_

I'm escorting new equipment from Magvel to Elibe, Tiki's in Cheve handling the city's integration, and Robin's in Elibe drawing up contingency war plans.

We're all quite busy.

…

[3rd Person Camera, Nestra]

…

As far as Corrin's concerned, her everyday life for the past month has been almost criminally peaceful. Officially a visitor on a work visa, she was given a position at the docks of Cheve, handling documentation and unloading of fresh fish and other watery catches. Her retinue (basically just Flora) helps her with the nitty gritty numbers. Jakob's duty was to ensure that their living space was well kept, and Felicia…is expected to be a spy around Nestra, learning everything she can.

"Eh? Why me?" Felicia had asked when given the assignment.

"Because out of all of us, you are the most noticeable." Jakob had explained. He had reasoned correctly that he and Flora would attract suspicion if they wandered around by virtue of how…useful, they would otherwise be to Corrin. By coincidence, Felicia was also less noticeable due to her 'clumsy maid' nature, and the fact that she had a tendency to wander.

And thus their month just passed by.

"Master, it's time." Flora calls from outside the bathroom.

"I'll be right there." Corrin says and fluffs out her hair. The waters of Nestra seems to do wonders for her, and her silvery white hair seems to shimmer in the sunlight. She pulls it into a pony tail and ties it up before leaving.

 _Why is she always so pretty?_ Flora thinks with a faintly accusatory tone (though with no facial expression change). "Master, shall we?"

The two of them were dressed in the simple and rugged overalls of the dockyard workers—basically a yellow jumpsuit—and headed down to the docks.

…

Nothing of importance happened during the day beyond the fact that Corrin got slapped in the face by a fish the size of her entire body.

…

"Good afternoon, master. Flora." Jakob greets the two of them as they depart the docks. "I trust the day went well?"

"How do they get fish to be that big?" Corrin could still taste the fin in her mouth. "Bleh."

Jakob, ever on hand, delivers to her a bottle of his tea. "Here. It may not be served in the proper manner, but I think the taste should still be satisfactory."

In the time of his sentence Corrin had already downed half the bottle.

"That aside, how goes the search?" Flora asks him.

"Nestra's defenses are full of holes." Jakob says. "So much so that's its difficult to believe that those holes are not traps."

Felicia had reported in just fifteen minutes ago about how she was able to get classified information about the Phoenix warship's insides…through a guided tour.

"How long are we still stuck here?" Flora asks with a note of desperation.

"For at least another month, it seems." Corrin replies. "Though…honestly? I'm pretty ok with staying here."

Jakob nods. "Agreed. Life in Nestra seems to be paradise compared to Nohr." He had stockpiled a rather extensive collection of exotic teas in his time here and wasn't looking forward to having to travel with it when the time comes.

"Of course you'd say that." Flora sighs. "But we have a duty to our nation and our people." She just wanted to go home.

"You were originally from the Ice Tribe, correct?" Jakob asks her.

"Both of us, yes." Flora nods. _Under extenuating circumstances._ She adds in her head.

"You could apply for a special visa." Jakob says. "If you become a Nestrian citizen, you'd be able to visit your home at length."

Flora's response was a piercing glare of such hostility that Jakob momentarily blinked in confusion.

"I've considered it." She says in a perfectly normal tone. "But that seems…strange, somehow."

"To visit your home as an outsider? Yeah." Corrin nods. "But maybe it would be nice to visit and then…y'know, stay visited for a while."

"Nevermind that topic for now." Jakob clears his throat. "On the topic of the war at hand…"

The three of them continue to chat as they walk, slowing upon seeing a convoy of Trucks with Tiki acting as the organizer.

"Hm? Isn't that the empress?" Jakob remarks as he sees her. "What's she doing here?"

Corrin was more interested in the truck. "What are those things?" Her eyes stray to an even bigger Truck next to it. "And what is that?"

"Hey! Guys!" Felicia (helping load the trucks) wave at them cheerily.

"Why is she here?!" Flora asks the sky before rushing forward.

"Friends of yours?" Tiki asks Felicia as the two parties meet face to face. "I am Tiki, one of the heads of the Phoenix." She introduces herself to the group.

"Ah, uh, I'm Corrin." Corrin bows hastily. "I'm…uh…" she was about to say 'a princess of Nohr' but then realized that she's talking to the wife of the man she had tried to shiv a month ago. "Uh…"

"You tried to assassinate Ash and was captured." Tiki says warmly. "It's alright, he told me."

"Uh…sorry." Corrin's face turns red.

"We are her attendants, I am Flora and that is my sister." Flora curtseys despite not wearing a skirt. "I apologize for my…our…unkempt appearance."

"Flora?" Tiki tilts her head. "Ah, the Ice Tribe's daughter." She smiles slightly.

Flora, angry at being referred to as such, nevertheless averts her gaze. Something about Tiki scares her.

"We both are!" Felicia says cheerily. "It'd be nice to go home someday." She sighs.

Corrin felt like she was missing something, but opts to ignore it for now. "What are those things? Uh, if I may be so bold to ask." She points to the Truck and the Bigger Truck.

"Ah, that's a truck." Tiki says. "We're shipping supplies to Cheve." She then points to the bigger truck. "And that…is a mobile crane." The Bigger Truck is very similar to a large ore hauler, except that the back of the truck is basically a control center for a group of Bulldogs (the builder kind). Since it is large and self-contained, it therefore gets a new name.

 _There is nothing bird-like about that thing at all._ Corrin, Jakob, and Flora think in unison. "Mobile Crane?" Corrin repeats.

"It is a constructor of sorts." Tiki says. "Ash wants to build a new path between Cheve and Nestra to facilitate faster travel, like a smaller version of the one between Nestra and Izumo."

"That sounds amazing!" Corrin's eyes sparkle. "Can I get a closer look?"

Jakob frowns slightly at the lack of decorum. "Milady…"

Tiki's reply is a warm smile. "Sure, ask the chief engineer to show you around, but be mindful: it is a large tool, after all."

Corrin practically races over to the Mobile Crane and gets a tour along with a gaggle of small children who seems to share her enthusiasm in spades.

"Why…" Flora sighs and moves to follow, but something roots her to the spot.

"I'd like to have a chat, if you don't mind." Tiki says in a polite tone that nevertheless made the hairs on Flora's neck stand.

"Of course." Flora bows slightly and the two moves to have slightly more privacy.

"First, I would like to apologize." Tiki says. "I understand that you are a political prisoner within Nohr in exchange for the Ice Tribe's continued safety."

 _That's putting it mildly._ "No offense, but what's your point?" Flora never really got rid of her ego as the chief inheritor of the tribe.

"Given that Cheve has fallen to the Phoenix's control, it is likely that Nohr will redouble its efforts to secure the different groups and cultures within its borders." Tiki says. "This will likely result in additional hardship and rebellion within those groups."

Flora nods slowly, not exactly liking the answer.

"I would like you to apply for diplomatic asylum within the Phoenix Empire." Tiki says rather suddenly.

Flora blinks. "Come again?"

"I'd like for you to be a political pawn for the Phoenix to utilize." Tiki repeats her meaning, if not necessarily her words. "This way, should Nohr decide to crush the Ice Tribe by force, we'll be able to intercede on your behalf, per your status as the child of the chieftain."

For the first time in a long time, Flora felt as if there was some meaning to her isolation. "Why?" She says levelly, keeping her emotions in check.

"Originally, we believed that we could influence Nohr and Hoshido through economic ties and cause them to be less heavy-handed with their desire for cultural homogeneity." Tiki explains. "However, following that burst of magic power the rules of the game seemed to have changed dramatically. To put it simply, we are hedging our bets."

"But…how will I contact you if I'm back in Nohr?" Flora says, trying to keep her hope from erasing her reason. "How will you know if the Ice Tribe is under attack?"

Tiki winks at her. "Oh, we have our ways." The entirety of Nohr was currently under surveillance from a magic-based high orbit weather balloon. Movement of troops is something that the Phoenix government is aware of within the timespan of minutes.

"I…yes, I will, just tell me how." Flora says, nearly overwhelmed with adrenaline and the desire to finally _do_ something.

…

"Is everything alright?" Jakob asks as the two ladies bid farewell to each other. "You were talking with her for an awfully long—" He had the time to register that her face was flushed (from adrenaline).

Flora, now positively giddy, jumps and hugs Jakob.

Jakob, currently nursing a crush on Flora, is now under a significant amount of mental strain. Unsure of exactly what happened, he gingerly pats her on the back.

"Oh!" Flora suddenly comes back to earth, realizes what she had done, and quickly lets go. "I'm terribly sorry, Jakob, that was very unseemingly of me." Her face stays flushed but now for different reasons.

Jakob was having some difficulty. "No, yes, I, er…" He stumbles through some words. "I take it the…with Tiki was…um…pleasant?"

"It was…very." Flora was now suddenly aware that her newfound hope could be taken away from her if she wasn't careful. "I…I'm sorry, I have some thinking to do." She was, after all, dutifully paranoid about her behavior.

Jakob watches her leave to be with Corrin. _I smell like fish._ He notes, and didn't mind it all that much.

…

[Hoshido, 3rd Person Camera]

…

Mood in Hoshido has definitely been better.

Their mortal enemy, the Nohr, has achieved more in the past two months than they had in the past five hundred years! The outrage was felt by every man, woman, and child within the country's borders.

Incidentally, the outrage was felt far less by those who lived closer to Izumo, many of whom considered this 'five hundred years' claim to be rather outrageous. Still, it was true that Nohr had invaded without provocation and had done serious damage to the nation, and that shame must be repaid in full.

Thus, Hoshido came to two avenues of approach.

One: a land army will, copying the events from an Outrealm historical event called 'Kenny', drag the Nohrian army into an unfavorable enclosure and slaughter it to a man.

 _Battle of Cannae._

Two: a navy army will, skirting the towns of Izumo and Nestra, land on the Nohrian coast and ravage the land using any friendly towns as their base of operations.

Three (a hidden goal): try to gain the support and sympathy of the Phoenix ruling house or any civilians willing to lend a hand.

Approach number three, incidentally, is why Hoshido is aware of the Outrealm conflict at all: a student of Classical Earth History had joined up with the Hoshido forces and gave them valuable insight.

Thus, Hoshido currently fielded three armies and one navy.

The first army, led by the Emperor Sumeragi himself, was going to be in charge of the main encircling action that will destroy the Nohrians to a man. Its forces were, per the Hoshidan standard, a mix of Samurai (as in 'nobility') and peasants armed by the government.

The second army, led by Prince Ryoma, was a smaller force comprised entirely of Pegasus Knights and Kinshi riders. Their job was to strike at the encircled Nohr army and provide air cover as needed.

The third army, much smaller and led by Prince Takumi in name only, was in charge of the raiding action on the Nohrian coast. Takumi's role was to negotiate for safe passage through Phoenix waters—he used to be their honored guest, after all.

Though the Hoshidan army respects tradition and is normally slow to change, when change is demanded they happen _fast_. The new Sumeragi army's foot infantry resembled a mix between traditional Japan-inspired forces and a Classical Greco-Roman army. The light infantry, instead of using a naginata, swapped out to a two-handed long spear with a shield strapped to their forearms much like a pike formation. Samurais now had shields as well, except those were made with interlocking layers of Kinshi feathers with wood to provide better defense against magic.

All infantry now carried with them a talisman, the Hoshidan medium for magic. The talismans were one use only and only summoned a small bird of flame. While individually weak, as a weapon used en-masse they could achieve results not unlike a Phoenix Empire strike…in theory.

Air units also switched to carry a stack of one-use talismans as well. These summon giant electric mice, and would stun large areas of the battlefield when dropped. Why mice? Nobody really knows.

…

Thus, two weeks after departing from Shirasagi, Emperor Sumeragi's army arrive on the battlefield and prepared to set its trap. Only a little while earlier, the army responsible for blocking the Nohrian army's progress had launched a seemingly anemic offense and was, as a result, shattered, retreating in droves and nearly deserting the battlefield before "somehow" stopping to form extremely strong points on the Hoshidan grasslands.

The Nohrian army, heartened by their success, figured that they could just ignore these hardpoints and drive deep into the enemy and let their reinforcements mop-up, advanced into Hoshidan lands and directly towards Sumeragi's waiting force.

…

"Outnumbered two to one and they still wish to fight?" Iago's lieutenant sneers at the line of Hoshidan troops before them. "Has these idiots lost their mind?"

Iago had, by sheer coincidence, transferred himself to the front line at the same time as the Hoshidan's attempt to shape the Nohrian army into something more to their own liking. Thus, Iago, who had expected to bring home small slivers of sporadic success suddenly found himself entirely on the offensive with Hoshidans breaking and running with every one of his brilliant tactics.

Suffice to say, the troops practically worshipped him like a god right now and he definitely enjoyed _that_ jolt to his ego. That said, Iago did not become the chief strategist of the army by running plans made by ego. He had noticed that only plans involving a direct frontal attack with the entire the army had the most effect…which was strange, because a direct frontal attack with the entire army was shockingly stupid and would only work once, as from the second time onwards the enemy strategist would know to shower the army with magic as it charged blindly forward.

No, there was something else at work here, and as Iago watched the Hoshidan army in front of him, feeling this sense of a trap, Camilla's wyvern rider detachment sent him a scout.

"Reporting." The scout (Beruka) says. "The enemy's center is made of their lightest infantry."

"They really don't learn." His Lieutenant openly laughs.

Iago smiles as well. _What a simple trap._ "What of their other elements?" He asks Beruka.

"Unseen, but there's a large hill and forest blocking our line of sight to the south of here." Beruka says. "If there's an ambush it will come from that direction." The hill in question was rather large, and a ground force would take around twenty minutes to enter the battlefield from that direction.

 _Sounds like an air unit being hidden._ Iago thinks. _It's too far from here for a cavalry unit._

"Their troops look something like this." Beruka draws a rough sketch of the enemy arrangement on a sheet of paper (Phoenix-bought).

Iago nods: it was a very obvious trap when seen from the sky. He had seen something similar described in the Great Library of Nestra, though the name escapes him.

"Well, if that's what they want to try, then let's let them try it." Iago smirks. "Assault formations!"

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

This directly leads to…mission…6? Of the Nohr path? I think?

Next chapter will contain some mix of the following missions: Ice Tribe, Ocean Freezing, Mission Five, and whatever else I want to throw into the pot.


	11. Part 9: Diplomacy

{ === + === }

[3rd Person Camera]

"Cripes."

A wing of four Kinshi Riders overfly a finished battlefield, taking care to maintain altitude so as to not fall prey to errant arrows. The leader of the wing surveys the field with a spyglass.

"Looking at it from up here, almost all of the corpses are Hoshidan." The leader mutters. "Wasn't there an army here? Where's his highness?"

The major battle between Hoshido and Nohr—the would-be battle of Cannae—devolved into a lopsided but otherwise normal battle due to one deciding factor: the presence of aerial surveillance.

Without the ability for either side to deceive the other side in formations, the ground battle became one of tacticians improvising the best they could, and both sides were even in that respect: Nohrian strategists were of a comparatively lower quality but could react faster than the Hoshidans.

However, Nohr's attacking army had both greater numbers and superior average level—Hoshido forces were comprised of its elite samurai force and mostly peasant levies with rudimentary training. The air advantage that Hoshido needed didn't materialize due the Nohiran Wyverns (both normal and Malig variants) keeping the Hoshidan Pegasi and Kinshi at bay.

To make matters worse, once it became clear that Nohr was more or less countering the expected strategy, the Outrealm strategist (the proponent of the whole idea) tried to improvise his way back to the expected path, and…the man's knowledge, based on a combination of earth knowledge and videogame magic, didn't translate well to a true battlefield advantage.

The Hoshido army was battered after the initial engagement and then things just got more lopsided from there. Hoshido lost around 40% of its army and an unhealthy amount of its elites. The handful that were left were Sumeragi's royal guards, who accompanied him as the emperor cut his way out of several entrapments.

Nohr lost somewhere around 3% of its comparatively larger army (so roughly 7% if we even out the manpower) and almost all of the dispatched air force. Notably, Beruka was critically injured and had to be hauled out of the fight by Severa, who was a wyvern knight for the occasion and did better than her amateur status would suggest.

Notably, Ryoma had watched some of the Phoenix's aerial exercises and had taken them to heart, making his personal unit of Kinshi extremely dangerous and effectively functioning as the morale for the entire airforce after it became clear that the ground battle was going poorly. Eventually he was able to achieve aerial superiority, but by then the battle was already lost, so all they could do was drop their remaining thunder mouse munitions and then turn tail and run.

Following the battle, the Outrealm tactician was found dead in his tent with multiple slashing wounds. It was ruled as a suicide and nobody seemed to care very much about investigating. The breakthrough allowed Nohr to set up key defensive points and then spread like wildfire into the Hoshidan countryside, spreading devastation as they went.

Fortunately, the Hoshidan second army safely made its way to Nohrian shores and began to do the same to Nohr. There was, of course, one problem: Nohr's terrain is summarily harsher than Hoshido's, and the available forage is consequently smaller. This balances out, though, since that means Nohr has fewer strategic targets of comparatively greater value to hit.

Takumi, despite being only halfway successful in negotiations proved himself to be an exceptionally capable small unit commander, having an exceptionally keen mind for remembering unit positions and predicting enemy movements. Through his guidance, the dispatching force managed to ransack their way through Nohr with minimal losses and was instrumental in helping to slow down Nohr's invasion.

…

[1 Month Past 'Cannae']

…

Corrin's 'sentence', as it were, was finished, and she was now a free woman, alongside a hundred or so ex-Nohrian soldiers that have been transported back from Jugdral. (The rest gave up their Nohr citizenship to become Phoenix citizens—money talks, after all).

"Finally." Corrin says slightly wistfully as she puts on her old armor and, over it, a travelling cloak. "How are things?" She asks Jacob.

"Just a little more." Jacob neatly packs away the last of his precious tea, having worked extra in order to purchase a wagon to carry all their stuff. "While it may have been a term as a prisoner of sorts, I will miss this place." He says, looking at the meticulously clean apartment (that he cleaned).

"Makes the two of us." Corrin straps on a newly purchased silver sword and checks how she looks in the mirror. "Nohr's at war, so we should expect to be dumped right into the fray the minute we get back, right?"

"To some extent." Jakob nods. "The news has certainly been…mixed." On one hand, Nohr's making progress in Hoshido. On the other hand, Takumi.

"What sort of face should I make?" Corrin asks idly. She didn't like how her armor left the insides of her thighs exposed. "Or should I just not worry about it?"

"It might be good to err slightly in favor of caution." Jakob says. "Lest there be unforeseen consequences."

Corrin nods. She had read books about things that happened because the protagonist was too brash or naïve. "Right."

…

Corrin and her party (Jakob, Gunter, Felicia, Flora) left Nestra with their wagon. Unlike her, Gunter did not get his armor back, and wore a set of leather armor purchased from a shop instead. He also did not have a dedicated horse, and was reduced to the role of a footsoldier…not that he minded much. The past month in Nestra has done wonders for his mind, and he felt invigorated compared to his days in Windmire.

Between all of them, Flora was the one who was the most dedicated in returning, though she would not tell them the real reason.

They travel until they reach the river that marks the border between Nohr and the Phoenix.

"From here on out, we're home." Corrin says with a small sigh. "Mixed feelings. Mixed feelings."

She hears a low roar overhead and instinctively looks up. A Pegasus Knight with boosters zip overhead deeper into Nohr territory. All of them by now have been so exposed to the stealth coating on the flying units that it was essentially no longer effective.

Gunter hmms. "Must be a scout, though it's strange that it's flying so low." He makes a note that the Phoenix are probably blanketing Nohr in aerial recon, and wonders if that knowledge can be made use of in some way.

"Well…it's nice to know they're so intrusive, I guess?" Corrin says with a confused tilt of her head.

They move on.

…

About thirty minutes later, they see the Pegasus Knight again, except this time it's circling over an area much too close for comfort. As Corrin watches, the knight fires down onto the ground.

"Probably nothing good." Gunter answers the unasked question. "Stop the cart. Felicia, let's go." He draws his sword.

"Yep!" Felicia readies her daggers, and the two charge down the road.

"Hey, wait!" Corrin hops down after them and gives chase. The ground beneath her bare feet feel oddly warm and comforting to the touch, though she doesn't really notice.

"Master!" Jakob hops off the wagon after Corrin. He was driving.

Flora felt no such compunction. "Well, I guess it's just me who's not sold on diving into danger." She sighs. Shortly afterwards, she dives into a daydream about her Ice Tribe while driving the cart onwards.

Meanwhile, Gunter and Felicia had already cleared the small copse of trees between them and the battlefield: The Phoenix Pegasus was circling over the battlefield in what Gunter now recognizes as a 'Pylon Turn', where it moves almost as if tethered to an invisible pole on the field. Below it (and in front of him) is a small gaggle of Nohrian peasants huddled in the center of the clearing. All around them are strange, blobby-looking humanoids with green bodies and hoods on their heads. Protecting the peasant is a little girl with vividly orange hair. As the humanoids shamble towards the Nohrians, the circling Pegasus Knight would snipe them down with impeccable aiming. Well, she missed a few times, but still, reasonably impeccable aiming.

"We're going in." Gunter says without breaking stride. "Take care to keep yourself visible so as to not get shot."

"Okie doke." Felicia readies her first dagger and hurls it straight into the nearest bagman's head. It strikes home and the bagman doubles over _far_ too steeply before straightening back up again.

 _No spines?_ Gunter notes and steps in with a powerful overhead slash that cleaves the bagman in half. It turns into something goopy and vanishes into the ground.

Now that the two of them are on the scene, some of the closer bagmen turn attention to them and begin shambling in their direction.

"Gunter, what—oh my lord." Corrin says upon entering the scene. She quickly gets her bearings and hopes into the fray, though, and Jacob arrives quickly after to provide her amateur combat skills some much needed support.

Gunter, having a moment to breathe, spares some attention to the girl with the orange hair. She was still in the middle of the ring and the overhead support had apparently allowed a bagman to make it through. He returns his attention to the bagman in front of him and, by the time he looked back, the girl was free from attention again.

 _That Pegasus Knight is quite something._ He concludes.

After some five minutes of combat, the last of the bagmen were defeated. Gunter went to wipe his sword but found that, to his suspicious, there wasn't any ichor, just a thin layer of water.

 _I'm too old to believe in coincidences._ He scowls. _It's time, then?_

"Hey! Nice work out there." Felicia claps him on the back. "Hard to believe you're actually retired, sir Gunter."

Gunter smirks. "Show your elders some respect." He good-naturedly ruffles her hair. "This old dog still has tricks up his sleeve."

Felicia returns a mischievous grin. "Who's the girl?" She asks as the orange-haired girl grabs her attention.

"Is she a local?" Corrin asks, then takes stock of the girl's clothing. "Doesn't look like it, huh…" She had on a distinctly Phoenix T-shirt.

"Heeey!" The Pegasus Knight above them yells out. "Is everyone alive?" She flies down to ground height and lands. She had a single long braid of deep blue hair and armor that looked foreign, with garish decorations that frankly hurt Corrin's eyes as she looked. It gleamed off of the sun in really awful ways.

"We are!" Corrin yells back over the sound of the Cruise Engines spooling down. "Thanks for the assist, miss…"

The mystery girl tosses back her braid with a distinctly adult air and then throws a V sign with a massive grin, completely obliterating that mature image. "I'm the hero of yore, Cynthia be my name!"

 _Seems like an idiot._ Felicia idly thinks. "Hi, Cynthia! Are you a Phoenix flier, then?"

Cynthia turns her grin onto Felicia. "One of the best! I'm actually just here 'cuz Brady wanted my help, tho'."

"Oh, why is that?" Gunter asks idly.

Cynthia could not see the pseudo-innocent question for the information pumping that it was meant to be. "He wanted me to help train some new Peg Knights for Nestra." She says bluntly. "They're real worried about how the war's goin'."

"Is that so?" Gunter says. "I was under the impression that the Phoenix is practically invincible."

"We're always short on manpower." Cynthia sighs theatrically. "To the point where they'd have to pull me from Magvel to train juniors! It'd be easier to just ship the juniors back home but nooooo I have to fly out here!" She makes an exaggeratedly devastated motion. "Fourteen hours! In the air! My ass can't handle fourteen hours in the air!" She travelled by boat and spent half of the trip sleeping in, waking only for desserts.

"Cynthee, are they all gone?" The orange-haired girl asks impatiently.

 _Pronounced as 'sin-see'. Oddly fitting considering her role._

"As far as I can see, Tennie." Cynthia says with a wink. "How about the peeps? They good?"

"No injuries?" The orange haired girl asks the civilians, who all shake their head no in unison. "Good."

"How old are you?" Jakob asks the orange hair. "You're much too young to be alone in a place like this."

Orange hair glares at him. "I'm eight years old." She throws out her chest confidently. "So I'm not a child."

 _No, you're still a child._ Everybody in attendance thought unanimously. "What's your name?" Corrin asks kindly.

"I'm Tenia! Ten-ni-ah!" The girl says with emphasis. "Don't forget it!"

 _Seems like an idiot._ Felicia muses. "Well, Tenia, what are you doing out here? It's not that safe, as you can see."

"I'm doing my job!" Tenia says proudly. Felicia waited for her to clarify but it seemed like the 8-year-old wasn't going to do that.

"Your…job?" Felicia repeats slowly. "What kind of job?"

"This kinda job." Cynthia says blandly. "You're better off asking me, y'know?" She hears a rustling behind her and immediately wheels her weapon around. "More." She says in warning.

Corrin turns to see two more bagmen charge lumber forward. She notes their yellow bodies and move to defend the civilians as Cynthia fires into the bagmen. The first shot strikes the closest bagman dead on the head. It reels back, but doesn't stop advancing. Cynthia's weapon (The rifle 'Cynthie Special') fires rounds that explodes when it impacts something hard or a Risen, and her current target is neither of those things.

"I really should've gotten new rounds." Cynthia mutters while reining her Pegasus around for a charge. "Well, that's fine with me!" She zeroes in on a bagman and fires at its feet. The bagman is staggered by the shots and barely regains its balance when Cynthia cleaves its head off with the glowing blunt edge of her rifle.

Now that Gunter has a better view of Cynthia's weapon, he could see that it resembles a slimmed down version of the 'linear rifle' that seemed to be the backbone of the Phoenix military. It was half as wide and seemed to lack the trigger that the rifle is known for. It also had a strange glow on the bottom and top of the weapon.

 _Cynthia's weapon has a shifting grip that allows her to wield her weapon as either a blade or a rifle (and the trigger appears or vanishes to match). The glow is from two sheets of metal with magic circles engraved on them. The top acts as a shield while the narrower bottom acts as a blade._

"Justice served!" Cynthia calls out mightily as she raises her weapon up high. Then she sees the second one striding towards Tenia. "Oh shit!"

As Gunter and Corrin rush to engage, Felicia and Jakob both throws knives at the bagman. The knives sink into its blubbery center and seem to have no effect.

 _We're not gonna make it on time._ Corrin notes worriedly and break into a full sprint. Sadly, she's not watching her footing and stumbles on an errant tree root. This sudden break of stride not only slows her down, but causes Gunter to slow down and make sure she's ok.

Meaning that by the time their attention went back to the group, the bagman was already on top of the little girl.

"You're ugly." Tenia says flatly as the bagman throws a fist the size of her face towards her face. It impacts, and she gives no reaction. "Weak, too."

She smacks its arm with such force that the part where she smacked it practically evaporates. The residual energy causes the bagman to twist in a full circle (breaking its nonexistent spine) and glare at her with its beady red eyes.

With a shout, Tenia then kicks it. Gunter recognizes the kick as from someone who's had some limited martial arts training but not quite the experience to back it up. Either way, her kick blew a hole into the bagman's chest, and her subsequent strikes turned it into a mushy pile of…whatever it was made of.

"Wow." Felicia says, her mouth gaping. "What is…what is she?" She points rather rudely at the little girl.

Corrin has no answer. Gunter and Jakob both note that Cynthia seemed entirely unfazed by that display of physics-defying power, and share a look of suspicion.

Tenia just dusts off her hands. "Easy peasy." She then shakes them. "Ew, it's wet." She wipes them on her clothes.

At this point Flora's wagon rounds the corner (ish) and she gets a full view of the battlefield, including one bagman that had appeared behind literally everyone. She puts a hand to her mouth and whistles.

Felicia recognizes the warning and immediately turns around. Everybody wonders what the sound was and turns around as well. Everyone sees the new yellow bagman just as something small and heavy slams into it from the sky.

"What was that?" More than one person asks in confusion.

"Oh! Yuck! I'm all wet now!" The person who just slammed into it cries and immediately takes off into the air again. "Urgh." She shakes whatever water was on her body before landing in front of Tenia, arms folded.

Corrin now notices the pair of dragon-like wings on the girl's back. _Wings? She's a manakete?_ Manaketes were common enough in the Phoenix (and by extension, Nestra) for her to be rather acquainted with the idea.

Gunter, Jakob, and Flora recognizes the newcomer girl and they immediately put two and two together.

"Big sis, why did you sneak out?" The little girl says in a huff.

"I saw these people need help." Tenia says truthfully. "What's wrong?"

"Your tutor's looking for you." The little girl says. "She sounded really angry."

"Oh." Tenia didn't look fazed. "Well, ok, let's just escort these folks to where they need to go." She stops, then turns to the civilians. "Where are you going?"

"We're headed into Nestra." The lead civilian (an elderly-looking man) says warily. "We're trying to get out of the war before it gets out of hand."

"Deserters, then?" Gunter says coldly. "Escaping the country so you don't have to do your civic duty?"

"You can call us that." The old man nods tiredly. "I've no reason to see my sons die in a meaningless war."

"Hey, no bullying." Tenia warns Gunter and tries to crack her knuckles. While she's too small to be intimidating, Gunter had no reason to believe the strength she showed against that bagman would be a one-off accident.

Instead, he bows slightly. "Apologies, old habits die hard."

"Leave it to Big Sis Cynthie and go back with me right now." The little girl says insistently. "Or I'll tell dad."

Tenia doesn't seem to be fazed by that. "Dad's nice, though."

The little girl grumbles at this. "He is. Then…um…I'll tell mom!"

Tenia shrugs. "Mom's nice too."

The girl shakes her head. "Other mom."

"Oh." Tenia actually feels worried at that. "Ok, ok. Fine." She raises her arms. The little girl grabs her by those arms and haul her into the air. "Good luck, Big Sis!" She yells over her shoulder as the pair take off into the skies.

"You can leave it to me!" Cynthia replies with an exaggerated wave. "Cripes, little girl almost gave me a heart attack." She says once they're gone. The civilians stand up again.

"Who were they?" Felicia asks. "Why did they…she…have wings?"

"If you don't know then I'm not gonna tell ya." Cynthia says with a sigh. "'sides, you guys are headed deeper into Nohr, yeah? Better get going before more of those things show up."

Of Corrin's retinue, Corrin and Felicia were the only two that had no idea who the two girls are. Everyone else had a reasonable guess. The little girl that showed up later was obviously The Phoenix's Princess Alicia, which would make the orange-haired girl Princess Tenia.

The three who knew then had a reasonable question: _But why is she here?_

 _Tenia returns home safe and sound and nobody questioned the fact that she went missing for a time (something she does often), though eventually Alicia's guilty conscience caused her to rat Tenia out to Tiki._

Corrin's party continue on without any answers (though they weren't all that interested in the first place). Worryingly, the infestation of those strange bagmen seems to be throughout the country, as the party seemed to find themselves in a battle every few hours with those things even as they approached the capital. Occasionally, the group would assist or be assisted by local militia and patrol groups.

"Seriously, what are these things?" Corrin asks after what seems like the millionth encounter. "Are they a new Hoshidan weapon of some kind?"

"I don't think they fit with Hoshido's theme." Flora says. "They're much too glum."

"Perhaps we'll have answers when we talk with Prince Xander." Gunter says.

…

Eventually, they return to Windmire to literally zero fanfare—nobody had told the castle they were coming.

"Perhaps the best possible welcome." Jakob notes. "Considering the circumstances."

"I dunno, I think I would've liked a procession of some kind." Corrin says while stretching. "Let's head inside, shall we?"

…

Inside the castle, they were greeted first with shock, and then were allowed a hurried audience with Garon, and then the audience was canceled because Garon is out on the field, which left them with the highest available noble of the court, which happened to be…Prince Leo.

Upon seeing him, Corrin lets out a "Leo!" of delight and rushes forward to hug him. Leo, being of rather average strength, is nearly knocked over by her enthusiasm.

"Good day to you too, dear sister." Leo awkwardly pats her back. "I was unaware you had been released from captivity." He lies.

"Seems like nobody is." Corrin says in a huff. "How is everyone? How are you? How's Nohr?"

Leo takes the questions in turn. "Father and Xander are marauding through Hoshido, Camilla's keeping their air force in check, and Elise is helping wherever she can at the main encampment." The 'encampment' is a village near the Nohr army's first invasion point, fortified rapidly (and shoddily) to act as their foothold in the country. "I'm currently resting my troops here; we're dealing with miscreants of all types in Nohr, and thanks to our string of victories Hoshido is firmly on the back foot."

"Miscreants?" Corrin picks up that word. "We've met some weird things with bags on their heads."

Leo nods. "That would be one of them. The other being a string of Hoshidan small-unit actions deep in our territory. We're hunting them down since they don't know the terrain, but their ability to adapt is absurd."

Corrin scratches her head. "Wow, sounds like a lot of things are happening." She looks back to her party. "I know it's sudden, but can I help?"

Leo thinks this over for a bit. "You're a bit of a laughingstock within the army, Corrin." He says carefully. "So I will not be able to take you as an officer."

Felicia completely forgot why Corrin landed in Nestra in the first place. "Eh? She is?"

"Yes." Leo sighs. "It's a bit unfortunate, though I agree that your actions were incredibly rash, and the result rather equitable."

Corrin's face flushes. "I've had time to reflect on it." She mumbles. "I can help out as just a normal soldier." She says. "Let me help."

"Well, we're still resting at the moment." Leo says with a shrug. "I'll have a talk with my captains and see if they can find a spot for you in their units."

"Are you sure about this, milady?" Gunter asks when Corrin peels away from Leo one eon of small talk later.

"I am." Corrin says, followed by a yawn that helped to undermine her determination. "I want to know why these things are here." She gives a sign for her group to follow, and they do so to a nearby guest reception room. "I'll take Felicia with me, since she's not bad in a fight."

"The bigger question is: why are you taking this course of action?" Jakob asks with a deep scowl. "Pardon my tone, master, but this seems rash."

"I know." Corrin scratches her head. "But…something is _wrong_ here." She says. "I've had this feeling ever since I set foot back in Nohrian soil, but it feels like there's something really wrong with this country. I don't know what, and this is probably the safest way to figure out what it is without going off on my own."

"Travelling as a small group would be safer." Fiora notes. "And not being a part of the army means not worrying about Hoshidans either."

Corrin shakes her head. "No, not quite. We've seen bagmen, and I'm not sure Hoshidans won't adopt a shoot first nature when it comes to strangers they meet on the road. This is probably the best way for me to see the damage being done to my country." She focuses on the group at large. "That said, if there is something going on, then I have assignments for all of you as well."

Jakob immediately straightens. "You only have to ask."

Corrin addresses each of them in turn. "Gunter, I want you to leverage your military contacts. Learn about the war and what's going on in Hoshido. Jakob, you're going to be my ear in Windmire. Flora, head to the ice village and see how they're faring about all of this."

"By your leave." Flora curtsies with the most earnest statement of agreement she's ever made to Corrin.

"So we're your ears for the military and the political, eh?" Gunter grins. "You've grown tremendously in the past month, Corrin."

"Being a prisoner does that." Corrin replies with a grin. She did, after all, spend nearly all of her free time reading at the Nestra Library. "There's a lot I don't know, so this will be a necessary first step to learn." She looks to her group. "Please be careful, everyone."

…

[One Week Later]

…

Corrin now had a better understanding of the situation. Slightly.

The Bagmen—referred to as 'Revenants' for the green ones and 'Entombed' for the yellow ones—sprung up a few days after the battle of Cannae (though she knew it by a different name). They were aggressive and dangerous in packs, and seemed to favor concerted, wild attacks on settlements and groups of people travelling in Nohr. They, along with the Hoshidans, seem to be doing rather massive damage to the Nohrian economy.

"The King considered sending an official envoy to Nestra for their support, but had to depart for Hoshido before being able to execute." Jakob had said upon delivering the information. "It seems that all trade is being badly hampered."

The silver lining is that the Bagmen seemed as interested in trying to kill the Hoshidans as they were the Nohrians whenever the three groups came together, so at least it was proof that the enemies of Nohr were not working together.

Incidentally, Leo's squadron had been home in Windmire to recuperate after one particularly savage battle against several small elements. Though Leo was victorious, his command was badly bloodied and they needed time to recuperate.

"I don't know who's in command, but their teamwork and planning is exceptional." Leo had grumbled. "Fortunately, this is Nohr, and that will ever be in our favor."

As of today (the last day of the 'one week later'), Corrin officially joins Leo's squadron as a soldier, with Felicia attached to the supporting maid corp, and they depart to search and destroy for the latest batch of Bagmen reported around Windmire.

…

…

[Two Months Later, 1st Person Camera]

…

…

The war situation has not necessarily developed in our favor, or something.

Ok, quick check-in because the Subcontinent just shuddered.

Magvel, Valentia, and Akanea are all behaving as normal. Nothing huge happening in those places. Chrom's got a third kid now or something, I didn't really pay attention.

Jugdral—Robin's currently using that continent as something akin to field practice: she's systematically subjugating tribes and relocating them to the Official Jugdral Phoenix Port City of Thrakki. It's…not a good idea because the city is _badly_ lacking in infrastructure.

…I say that like it wasn't my decision to have her do it in the first place. Any growing empire needs a good ol' dose of ethnic cleansing to get things started, except here it's called Life.

While I fucked up with building infrastructure, the purpose of centralizing the population is to…uh…let them beat the weird blood racism out of each other, I guess? One of the biggest issues with Jugdral is the fact that life is starkly divided along the whole divine blood business, as well as the whole Major/Minor blood thing.

By smushing everyone together I hope that either everyone will learn to get along after losing a few teeth, or else the smartest and powerfulest of the rabble rousers will form cores around themselves and we'll know who to kill after a few unlucky children get strung from a tree.

I wish that was just black humor, by the way. Jugdral tribes tend to have a very 'kill them all' attitude when it comes to people not of their blood. Like…it's Bad.

As for why we don't just leave them alone, well…leaving them alone hasn't seemed to help with the whole 'not killing each other' business for the past 800 years, so it seems just a _wee_ bit too optimistic to believe that, somehow, the next ten of nonintervention will miraculously solve their problems.

Um…in less somber news:

Elibe—Bern and Etruria are still fighting and our military resources are stilled tied up there. The fighting has expanded drastically. Bern's doing airdrops and carpet bombing while Etruria's doing artillery strikes. It's…getting bigger. Good thing the FE6 campaign will only happen when Roy's 16 or so, I guess? There're signs that Ostia may be getting pulled into a fight, though Hector's trying his best to get Lycia away from it.

Hector's also looking for Phoenix assistance, but we're…y'know, short on _everything_ and it sucks. Our participation in Bern has more or less just be the defense of key points and transportation, and Etruria quickly learned to check where we were and then stay the hell away, so losses have been light.

Tellius—Apparently last winter Daein had a terrible harvest and their rulership is looking for solutions. Tiki's worried so I'm worried. The Wii Fire Emblems started with Daein being the aggressors, so…yeah. Eyes on the problem.

And finally.

…

[The Subcontinent]

…

Nohr is doing exceptionally well against Hoshido in their war, but…

1] The weird blobby murderer people are running around and doing incredible damage to Nohr.

2] The entire Nohr army are running around and doing incredible damage to Hoshido.

3] The Hoshidan strike force led by Takumi is doing incredible* damage to Nohr.

*damage may not be that incredible.

The most important thing I'm worried about is the manpower being fielded on both sides. Hoshido I can kind of understand, since they have more food, but…our geologists and military strategists have compared notes, and by their reckoning the Hoshidan army is around 5 to 15% overcapacity, and the Nohrian army is probably double or triple its actual possible size.

Now, this information is built on the availability of foodstuffs, weapons, so on, which means that once magic™ gets involved things get weird, but…according to the analysts, the quality of both nations' troops and their training implies that they've been overcapacity for a while, to the tune of several years now.

And as we all know, the Burst wasn't all that long ago. Doctrinal changes and inherent training being changed by a burst of magic is…worrying…but fundamental food storage and production (and just raw _manpower_ ) doesn't get handwaved into existence like that.

In other words, there's something else at play here that's shifting the equation in an un-fun kind of way. The question is: what?

…

In less grand-scale but no less worrying news:

The infiltration team in Nohr has reported sightings of weird water zombies with bags over their heads. We will refer to them as bagmen from now on, since apparently that's what everyone calls them and I see no reason to change things at the moment. This, along with the Hoshido's weird rock golems, mean that both sides now have some weird shit going on in their territory that's independent from the current war effort.

We've captured one of those bagmen for analysis, and it seems that composite-wise they share superficial similarities to a Risen. Both are essentially constructs made from a singular element and then given form—Risen happens to be almost entirely magic-based, while these are more or less water based. This means that, worryingly, bagmen can appear wherever there is water, and, surprisingly, Nohr has some expansive aquifers underneath their soil.

Upon receiving that knowledge, Brady had Nestra's water sources checked for pollutants of any kind and found nothing, so that was not very helpful. It would've been better if we had found something so we could at least get rid of it.

Notably, my Tenia went out and fought a few of them. I was in Elibe at the time so Tiki handled her punishment for running off on her own without a word.

Between the two of them (Tenia, Alicia), Tenia's the Tomboy and Alicia's the Good Girl. I love both of them to death, but Tenia's not really into the whole 'being doted on' business, so I give her a set of guidelines I expect her to follow and then more or less leave her to her own devices.

Uh…what was I talking about?

Corrin.

Let's pretend we're gonna talk about Corrin.

So we sent Corrin home, and replaced her favorite hairband with an exact copy that has a long-range transceiver built into it so we can track her position. It also doubles as a recorder and records data nonstop, offloading it to the infiltration team or our aerial scouts whenever it makes a connection.

From that Definitely Illegal spying, we have confirmed that the bagmen are going nuts and that Leo's not exactly happy to be assigned on perpetual squishing duty. For now, they're basically playing whack-a-mole with Takumi, and apparently are not doing all that well.

I haven't figured out yet what role Corrin will play in the story of this subcontinent, so I'm, y'know, stacking the deck in my favor.

…

The main focus of the subcontinent—especially on the Nohr side—has got to be the Ice Tribe. Now that both Felicia and Flora are considered 'safe' and away from seclusion, the historically autonomous Ice Tribe is making more noise against the Nohrian crown. Were it the pre-Burst Garon, I would imagine that he would listen to their complaints and try to find a compromise that works for both parties, but the Garon now is more likely to take a more hardline stance.

Plus, there's a third neutral city. I don't remember its name, but it is the medicine capital of the Subcontinent, and values is neutrality quite highly. Both Nohr and Hoshido are pushing for it to join their respective sides, and obviously it's ignoring those requests, to the point where both sides have an army essentially parked outside its territory, ready to move in at a moment's notice.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because how Garon treats the Ice Tribe could very well push the city into Hoshido's hands, and…well, the city has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the few places outside the Gorge where an army can move between the two territories on near-flat terrain.

So…yeah, they're worried.

…But at the end of the day, we're still stuck doing a wait-and-see. Cynthia's been posted to Nestra and it's not much of a stretch to say that she represents basically the entirety of the trained Phoenix airforce at that location. We're just so shorthanded now. I mean, I know it's basically self-inflicted, but still.

…

[Another Two Months Later]

…

Oh hey wait and see didn't solve any problems. Welcome to reality.

Anyhoo…the world state hasn't really shifted in any major ways, so we'll focus exclusively on the subcontinent.

Nohr incursions into Hoshido have more or less been blunted: Hoshido concentrated the bulk of their forces to the edge of Nohr's footholds and cut off the internal strike forces and then practiced some good ol' fashioned Total War. Hoshido basically gave up four of their largest cities to Nohr, allowed the Nohrian army to loot those cities, and then sieged those cities along with an aerial strike mission on the granaries to burn them to the ground.

Afterwards, the Nohr armies staged breakouts towards the Gorge and were largely successful.

On the Nohr side, Takumi's army was pinned down last week by Leo's army (though neither leaders were present) and the Hoshido army was scattered to the wind. Nohr's population really showed their adaptation to local magic conditions though, even if they didn't know it, and the mop up operation, as I understand it, is pretty much near total.

Leo was pulled back for a new assignment, I think. We're not sure about where he is or why he left.

Takumi, similarly, was pulled back to Hoshido through Nestra/Izumo with the official declaration of him being a 'diplomat'. Brady didn't like how that system was being abused, but neither Takumi or the Hoshidan Liaison lied when they were making the visa application, so his hands were tied.

Corrin…was left in command of Leo's patrol unit and the data from her hairband indicates that she was critically wounded in battle. Like if the Heroic Albino is so…selfless…we may be in the market for a new hero. Maybe one with some stronger plot armor, I dunno.

Or else we need to give Corrin some support, in the same way that Chrom would probably have been fucked without Robin.

Like Chrom without Robin is basically autobattle Chrom. Can you imagine autobattle Chrom clearing Awakening with any kind of certainty.

But…the biggest issue that involves this particular battle between Nohr and Hoshido is that the battle occurred disturbingly close to Ice Tribe Territory. Now, the biggest issues are that the Ice Tribe is historically anti-Nohr, and…the deployment of the Nohr troops look suspiciously like they came out from the Tribe. Now, even if this is a coincidence…

 _We are in Brady's war room. A messenger steps through the open door._

"Nohr just declared an ultimatum on the Ice Tribe."

Well fuck.

…

Yeah, yeah. The Ice Tribe is to turn over all Hoshido loyalists or face the consequences.

This reeks of preplanned shenanigans. If we assume that Windmire received a message via flying unit, it would mean that…what, Garon debated on the issue of the Ice Tribe's treason for about two hours before receiving said message on the Ice Tribe's treason? Smells fishy.

 _Our math is wrong: Garon had about five hours to debate the issue AFTER receiving the message, like a normal person._

So…what are we to do?

…

[3rd Person Camera, Ice Tribe, Same Day, 2200]

…

The air around Flora was bitterly cold. As 'someone familiar with the Ice Tribe', she volunteered to take the Nohrian Ultimatum into the Ice Tribe's territory and then 'wait for their response as needed', as a bit of an excuse to visit home. Understandably, as the ultimatum was read out, she was none too happy about it.

 _For the record: when Corrin tasked her to go to the Ice Tribe, Flora couldn't just 'go to the Ice Tribe'. Thus, she's attached to the force that usually operates around the Ice Tribe's territory, who happens to have been folded into Leo's unit for their previous operation._

"This is foolish." The tribe chief (her father Farrier) says. "We have no Hoshidans in our midst, not even as survivors from their most recent battle."

"But Nohr will not accept that answer." A tribe noble says angrily. "We've been a thorn in their side for too long for them to conceivably accept this answer."

"For better or worse, their subjugation army is currently crippled." Flora says. "The current acting head of command was injured in the battle and their response will be slowed as a result." She bows slightly. She had missed while throwing a knife, hitting her on the foot and causing a minor chain of reactions that ended with Corrin taking a rather nasty stab wound to her sides. While she cursed her own subpar combat ability at the time, she's now rather happy at the accidental result.

Also Felicia was unhappy with her, so that's a thing she's dealing with.

"So we have time." Farrier muses. "Can we send someone to Nestra? They did seem sympathetic to our cause."

"There's a high chance that a messenger will be detected." Another noble says. "And if that were to happen, the Nohr army may simply choose to attack to rid themselves of the trouble."

"This is our land, we can very likely hold them off for the time it takes for the Phoenix to arrive." The first Noble says confidently. "Might I remind everyone here that the Phoenix's force are leagues faster than anything else we've ever seen?"

"Leagues faster is still enough time for others to be killed." Noble B says. "We should be wary of too much trust in outside powers."

As the debate drags on, Flora notices that her father has been uncharacteristically quiet, and shoots him a quizzical glance.

Following the debate with no ready answer (though a messenger was readied to deploy) Farrier motioned for Flora, and the two retire to have a father-daughter moment to the eyes of everyone else present.

"Father, what I can do to help?" Flora asks once the two confirms that they are alone. "The Nohr army has some talented leaders, if I were to remove them—"

Farrier holds up a hand. "I will not make my own daughter do such a thing." He smiles and pats her head. "You must've made some friends when you were…interred, at Nestra."

Flora blushes. "That's…" She was not very good at making friends.

Farrier takes out a small key and walks over to a small, nondescript cabinet tucked in the corner of the room. "I've received this gift some months ago." He opens it, then pulls away a false back and reveals a suite of what Flora recognizes as distinctly Phoenix communications equipment. "The man said to make use of it when the Ice Tribe is in trouble, and I do believe this is a time that fits with that description." He spins it up.

The speaker turns on almost immediately, and the voice of Brady comes over the line. "This is the Nestra Communications Room, what's the situation, Lord Farrier?"

 _How did he know it was us?_ Flora immediately wonders. Nestra was, of course, monitoring the entire situation closely.

"Ah, uh, yes." Farrier gets himself used to talking into what may as well be a salt shaker and, through some rambling discourse, tells Brady of their current situation. "…And to that end, we'd like to formally request for military assistance."

"Alright, but understand that we will be expecting what we discussed." Brady says.

"Understood, thank you for your assistance." Farrier says, then closes the line after Brady signs off.

"Father…you agreed to give them something without consulting with the council?" Flora says disapprovingly. "That's against our law of conduct."

Farrier shrugs. "Yes, but our law of conduct also calls for setting ourselves on fire as punishment for treason, so I feel like we can do with updating a few things." He pats her head again. "The Phoenix is just, so I'm sure we'll get better treatment than under the hands of Nohr."

Flora takes a second and agrees that, yes, it would be the case. She still pouts though.

…

About fifteen minutes later, there's a knock on the tribe chief's door.

"Yo." Ash waves cheerily, earning himself a hastily kneel from Farrier.

"The Emperor of the Phoenix Empire himself." Farrier says to the ground. "I'm honored by your presence, sir."

Ash grins. "The bigger guns are coming in later, so I'm the vanguard." His grin fades. "Are you sure about this, though?"

"Farrier, what is the meaning of this?" Noble A demands. "Why is the Phoenix Empire here?"

"I'm here to confirm if the Ice Tribe is interested in trading in their current overlord for a newer, shinier one." Ash says. "No need to sugarcoat it, really."

Noble A creates a blade of ice in his hands. "I happen to be sympathetic to Nohr, and this reeks of treason on many fronts, Chief Farrier." He snarls.

The blade snaps and vanishes in a cloud of sparkling dust, making the Noble blink momentarily in confusion.

"Let's not get violent, yeah?" Ash says, a gathering of magic power focused in his hand. "I'm just here for negotiations right now. If I need to do defense I will do that, but hopefully we can resolve this thing without needing to, y'know, kill everything that moves."

Noble A sighs. "…Fine. I apologize for my hasty reaction." He looks to Flora. "Perhaps we can invite the commander of the Nohrian military here? They have the authority to make diplomatic suggestions to the crown, yes?"

"That is correct to my understanding." Flora nods. "Though it may require a little fine tuning."

Ash thinks it over. "Well, let's get everyone to the table and let's see what we do."

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

The line about us having bigger guns is a lie. Brady has four Diamonds but they're all grounded for maintenance because…uh…reasons.

 **Because you're a dumbass who landed near them when he arrived.**

Hey fuck you orbital drops are hard. Besides, I'm a big enough gun on my own. I can just leave and come back and be like…ahem. Getting sidetracked.

Anyways, we've agreed to go to the table, and after sending Flora back (since she's still the official messenger) and another…two hours, of waiting, we were able to bring Farrier, myself, two nobles from the Ice Tribe, and three sub-Generals from the Nohr army to the diplomacy table. Corrin's not her on account of her injuries, though I think it's more that the Generals felt like she would be biased in my favor.

…

…

[Diplomacy]

…

…

So the discussions more or less went awry almost immediately as it started. While the Nohr Generals talked about how it was necessary for the Ice Tribe to 'accede to the orders and present a unified front to the enemy', it became very clear that the stated reason for them being here—Hoshidan soldiers—was just small potatoes. Hell, an hour after we started I had to remind the Generals of that point.

So, what was the bigger fish?

Easy: mithril. The Ice Tribe territory holds one of the mithril mines within Nohr territory.

 _'Easy' in the sense that we finally pried it from the Generals after three hours of circular talking._

Reminder: Nohr and Hoshido have great weapons with great durability, and mithril (so we call it) is the reason why. Initially we believed that it's because of the material itself, but a deeper study reveals that the qualities that make a metal 'mithril' is in fact a quality of iron within the entire subcontinent, it just so happens that mithril exhibits those qualities in greater strength.

…Weird déjà vu moment.

Anyways, the mine is not exactly a *big* one with regards to how much it supplies Nohr, but it has the distinction of being one of the most reliable. Now, I want to stress that the 'most reliable' qualifier was given by Farrier, which means that it could very well be just, y'know, diplomatic bullshittery, but…

Mithril mining tends to be cyclic, and the Ice Tribe one tends to have the highest highs along with relatively short low time. I assume this is caused by the magic that runs in the ground, and the fact that it cycles is known to us (though we don't know why).

Apart from that, the Ice Tribe is functionally unable to support itself: the inherent abilities of its tribe means the immediate area surrounding the village is a frozen wasteland, extending to about a kilometer from the village's edges. That in itself is not really a problem, mind: the village has an inherently low population and can more or less make do through basic hunting/gathering/horticulture.

…The problem is that if Nohr decides to come down hard on the Ice Tribe and, y'know, make an example of them with a little bit of bloodshed, the Ice Tribe could literally stop existing due to its small family size.

To the best of my knowledge, you need about twenty pairs of breeding humans to avoid dying out due to inbreeding. The Ice Tribe's population currently caps at about 800 people or so, with a rather healthy spread of ages all around. This means that around half of its population are in the 'can make babies' population group, which is nice.

The Ice Tribe's population is also skewed towards males, which is not so nice. Felicia and Flora are…somewhere in their teenager years, prime babymaking age, as it were, and if you take their age as the baseline and then go up by ten years…the two of them make up five percent of the female population in the tribe.

So…yeah, if an army rolls through and decide to do some housekeeping, the tribe is fucked. Farrier knows it, Flora…could possibly know it, she's a little too sharp for her own good. The Generals definitely do not know it, which brings us back to…

The Mithril! Essentially Nohr just wants the Ice Tribe to house more manpower to work the mines (due to the war) and the Ice Tribes countered by asking for that manpower to pack their own supplies. Those supplies are, of course, earmarked for the front, which means there is none to give.

Which means that the Tribe flat out refused to take in people, which pisses off the Nohrian government, which takes us to where we are now.

I found the hardline stance of Nohr on the topic to be…odd, even factoring the Burst, so I had the infiltration team forward me some data.

 _As a result, the negotiations drag on for another day._

Going by the reports, the primary factors for Nohr wanting to better exploit the Tribe's mine are that…one, most of their other, more productive mines are located near the Gorge, and surprisingly are taking damage and interruptions by Hoshidan air raids, to the point where…they're trying this, I guess.

Also, Ice Tribe mithril tend to be of a higher quality than the competition, which is surprising. The Generals are chalking it up to the performance of the mine, though I think it has to do with the people.

Regardless, everything boils down to one point: the Ice Tribe cannot sustain acceding to Nohr's request, and Nohr, in the interest of 'not losing face', cannot back down either.

Which…if this was pre-Burst Garon, he would have no problems backing down. Damn shame, really.

Now, the Tribe can't really give in to Nohr, so they're turning towards us, the Phoenix. The problem is…the land between the Tribe and Windmire is basically overflowing with huge forests with massive canopies, which makes hiding troops a breeze. The nearest of such forests stop at a mere 200 meters from the outskirts of the village.

In other words, if we take in the Ice Tribe, we're basically forced to garrison the location or else risk not being able to react in time to an incursion against the village. It takes _me_ fifteen minutes to get here via orbital jump, which means that anything more substantial will take at least two hours to fly, nevermind the time it takes to actually get them ready to deploy.

Basically, the actual options of the Ice Tribe is…minimal, at best.

…

…

[Three Days of Dialogue]

…

…

 _Fuck_ me this is time consuming. This is basically Cheve 2.0, the Chevening.

Ice tribe wants to be free, but their only defender (us) are too far away to prevent them from getting shanked in the case of an invasion. After three days, we've established this tentative agreement where the Phoenix will sell food in bulk and transport it to the Ice Tribe in exchange for Nohr's moving in of miners to exploit the Mithril, and otherwise leaving the tribe alone to its own devices.

It'd be nice if we could also exploit this system in exchange for moving in military equipment, but we already have the Firebrands for that so…uh…we can void their rules however we want if we actually had the resources to fortify yet another position.

The fact that this is objectively the _best_ solution leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I'm pretty sure I can hear Flora sharpening knives somewhere in the background. The biggest issue is still the fact that Nohr holds the cards here and they know it, so we're stuck with a poor deal until we can circumvent some of the harder to deal with facts…

…But, well, not like I can do anything about this for the time being. Still, we should be good for about a year before something else happens.

…

[About 4 Months Later]

…

I blame myself for this.

As of 0800 this morning, the spies we had in Hoshido found Corrin's signature within their borders and we don't know what the fuck.

Uh, let me rephrase.

As of…uh, yesterday, the records show that Corrin's magic signature was found within the Gorge, among a group of Hoshidans and Nohrians. We assume it means there was a battle, as the records show Corrin making significant progress along the Gorge before…gone.

Her signature just disappeared in the middle of battle and we didn't know why. Now, signatures disappear all the time: our sensors and aerial recon aren't perfect, and the detector built into her hairband disables whenever the fighting gets fierce (too much interference), and magic was certainly being slung around that area with impunity.

The problem, then, was that she appeared deep within Hoshidan territory and, after some more scouting, was determined to be friendly and polite and not being kept as a POW in any way.

This war's been weird so far and this is just one more notch on that belt.

The reason why this is weird is because, after reviewing the data, we've determined that she just upped and vanished, and the location where she appeared (Shirasagi) is way beyond the distance coverable by a day of travel unless she was like me and can do orbital drops, and I'm pretty damn sure I would know if she could do orbital drops. Hell, I'm sure everyone in the world would know if someone's doing orbital drops.

Anyways, she's there, I'd like to know why she's there, and more importantly I want to talk to Hoshido about why the war seems to be both stalemating while also progressing smoothly on both sides.

I don't mean it as just a matter of propaganda, either, which is doubly strange.

Uh, so…nothing really happened in the four months that's worth noticing (no new wars and no end to current wars).

Within these months, Nohr and Hoshido has had seven major engagements totaling roughly a hundred thousand dead on both sides. This is a significant chunk of population for a pre-industrial society, but as far as we can see there hasn't even been a _dent_ to the actual combat strength of both nations. Similarly, the mayo golems and the bagheads are wrecking shit in Hoshido and Nohr respectively, and although we can see the damage to trade and settlements on the map, whatever damage their doing seems to be practically nonexistent.

…Like, this is _weird._ The fact that the populace seems to be just mildly annoyed is something I'm attributing to the Burst, but the rest of it…

…our spies have reached the end of their rope and really can't poke any further without compromising themselves, so we're going to go in personally and see if we can't suss out what's behind all of this.

This is Fire Emblem so there's probably a big fuckoff dragon somewhere, and given how the bagmen are made of water and the golems are made of mayonnaise we're assuming that there is a Water Dragon pulling the strings somewhere, and given that mind control seems to be a theme here we're assuming it's capable of doing something about that mind control, or else it is a dragon ancestral to the land and influences its magic, or else a bunch of other theories that we're entertaining but have no real evidence for.

…This is kind of the nice thing about having a lot of Outrealmers around. Everyone can predict, to some extent, what the story might be.

…Still, it'd be nice if some of the predictions turn out to be just lies.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

So as a side-effect of this chapter I did an audit of my timeline spreadsheet and I found out that

1) I had added about an extra year to the calendar, and

2) Felicia and Flora don't have entries, so I actually don't remember how old they are. Oopsy daisies.


End file.
